Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Ramy Mardini is quoted by the Financial Times:
Publicly, Kurdish officials insist there is enough international support for a secession bid – and deny that US air strikes that helped them keep Isis at bay require them to curb their political ambitions.
Ramzy Mardini, an analyst at the Atlantic Council in Washington, says the Kurds “already got what they got” and this may leave the US with less to pressure them with as the politicking goes on.
“The US has had an ineffective history of leveraging their position in Iraq,” he said. “They can’t seem to exchange their security assistance . . . for political reforms and compromises.”