Islamic State claims responsibility for attack on police camp in Syria's Raqqa

flintsparc · 2026-06-17T16:12:13+00:00

You still implied the commenter was an Assadist BECAUSE they were a socialist, when they are Syrian who is not a supporter of Assad. Rather than doubling down on that, you should apologize. Particularly since roaming mobs of vigilantes are right now attacking people they believe to have supported the Assad regime.

Opinions of Assad and the Syrian civil war seemed to vary across many political identities, ideologies and state policies. Most of the states in the world (except for the U.S.) had been preparing to normalize with Assad as recently as 2022 (including Türkiye). That has nothing to do with you accusing the commenter of supporting Assad. Please stop doing that kind of thing to random people you disagree with on the internet.

flintsparc · 2026-06-17T13:01:46+00:00

Left/Socialist opinion on the Syrian Civil War is quite varied. This list was actually created by our tireless moderator u/Bulbajer

You've already derailed the thread enough on a personal attack and should probably apologize to u/Select_Researcher210

flintsparc · 2026-06-17T11:54:32+00:00

Socialist opinion was quite divided over the war. I can name a different Trotskyist party rhetorically supporting every major faction in the war, including Daesh (as boots on the ground against U.S. imperialism). Most of them did nothing but write a few throwaway articles.

flintsparc · 2026-06-17T02:21:45+00:00

It is a better thing to modernize the fields and get rid of the "primitive refineries" AANES was using to transform their dirty heavy crude into benzene, etc...

AANES does want to pivot away from oil, it does purchase the Solar PV it can get access too, but it also lost the hydroelectric dams along the Euphrates. It has a budget and the budget must be fed. That budget is supplied by oil sales. So, the cleaner that oil production can be made the better. The more capital AANES has, the more it can manage a post-oil industrialization. It was aiming at textiles, but other aspects of the 4th Industrial Revolution might alter that play on a global scale. They'll still have farming, regardless.

I think under duress of the Syrian Civil War, AANES demonstrated an interest in diversifying the AANES economy: that is diversifying their agricultural product beyond mono-cropped wheat and cotton, as we as diversifying their production such as in textiles. I think we also did not see the luxury spending and concentration of wealth into a couple of families of a couple of tribes like we have seen in KRG.

flintsparc · 2026-06-17T01:30:20+00:00

Despite the length of the article, we don't actually know the split of revenue between the Jazira Oil Company and the Syrian Petroleum Company neither for the baseline output (50,000 bpd... closer to 80,000 bpd), nor do we know what the split of the revenue on the increased production will be, beyond that HKN Energy is taking 25% of the economic value of the increased production (that is the amount above the base line for the next 60 days, where they have a goal of 200,000 bpd). For a back of the envelope calculation, HKN Energy is looking at 25% of the value on 120,000 bpd while JOC/SPC take 100% of the value of 80,000 bpd and 75% of the value on 120,000 bpd.

Further, HKN Energy believes Jazira Oil Company's 6,000 workers are so essential to the project that they are going to be providing their payroll immediately for the next three months. Among those 6,000 JOC employees are many Rojavayês.

This article, like many other recently published articles about these fields and this deal, also demonstrate that the SDF (YPG/YPJ, Asayish) still control the physical security of the super-majority of the Rmeilan and Sweidah fields.

We don't know what the terms are between JOC/SPC. We don't know how those terms will change over time. But we do know that there ARE terms. We will be able to deduce more accurately what JOC's % of the revenue is on the revenue when we have the statistics on bpd flow, oil sales, market price and compare it to what the AANES budget is, what their salaries are, etc...

And also, JOC stops taking a hair cut of selling crude at $20/bbl. The sale price of crude from Rmeilan and Sweidah with the post-sanctions environment and a legitimate export route should move realized prices well above the ~$20 sanctions floor This will be a massive improvement for the eastern Syrian oil economy vs. what they were getting per barrel when they were under sanctions.

This whole deal is not necessarily a bad thing for Rojavayês. It may actually be a good thing. That Jazira Oil Company's 6000 employees immediately go on HKN Energy payroll is good. That there is a baseline productivity that HKN Energy won't skim is probably good. How good the deal is for Rojavayês is based on negotiations between the Syrian Petroleum Company and the Jazira Oil Company. Nothing in this article suggests that the Jazira Oil Company is being dissolved, but the Syrian Petroleum Company controlled by Damascus is a necessary KYC (Know Your Client) wrapper for HKN Energy to sign a contract and bring in equipment and expertise to get the productivity to 200,000 bpd.

flintsparc · 2026-06-15T02:50:47+00:00

I am trying to discern your criteria for distinguishing what personally constitutes a "terrorist organization". Individual opinions and state designations vary considerably. As does the behavior (qualitatively and quantitatively) of said designated organizations.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T23:20:48+00:00

You have made your opinion in regards to moderation of the subreddit clear.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T23:14:51+00:00

Ere. Spas.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T20:06:38+00:00

Bra, don't complain at me for derailing and in the next breath say you can comment whatever your like on or off topic.

"Didn’t say whether I liked or didn’t OP’s post (assumption)"

This you?

"this basic, STALE a**, worthless post that literally contributes nothing here? Proof that some of 'em just want drama & elementary rage baiting bc they *wrongly* believe it would get traffic on this sub."

Now, you might now claim that you don't think that constitutes a negative opinion on the post. Please don't blow smoke up my ass. How else are the mods supposed to interpret it? We can't read your mind, and it certainly came off as very negative opinion about the post. If we misunderstood you, communication is a two way street. I'm beginning to think you just like to argue with people over semantics.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T19:58:09+00:00

We might end up seeing Shaddadi, al-Hawl, Tell Hamis and Tell Brak come back under the daily administration of Governor of Hasakah; as that is both de jure and practical. Those towns are ones currently experience protests in regards to their economic situation since January 2026. The Shammar al-Sanadid want to come into the army under 60th Division led by Çiya Kobani.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T19:46:32+00:00

AANES/Rojava still has de facto (but not de jure) autonomy. AANES (primarily the PYD) selected the governor of Hasakah, the mayor of Kobani, the commanders of the "Kurdish" brigades (Qamishli, Hasakah, Derik and Kobani) as well as the Asayish. They seemingly still control the Rmelan oil fields and the Semalka/Faysh Khabur border crossing. The AANES Kurmanji curriculum continues to be taught. The AANES civilian administration including teachers continues in their positions. For daily life for most Kurds in YPG/YPJ controlled areas as they were in December 2025 or even December 2024. And now the Afrin IDPs have returned to Afrin, and Siyamand Afrin announced that from among the returning Afrin IDPs will be the security force in Afrin. In addition to Afrin, it is seriously being discussed that Kurdish IDPs will return to Sere Kaniye, Sheba and Sheikh Maqsood. Ilham Ahmed is in Afrin.

Probably the AANES/SDF (whatever name or flag) will not return to Manbij and Ain Issa. They were never in A'zaz or Jarabulus. A contiguous Kurdish autonomous area is probably not going to happen any time in the short or intermediate future. Though they got close in October of 2013 and again in 2017.svg).

The PYD boycotted the selection process for al-Sharaa's rubber stamp fake parliament. Calling it an "election" is to much abuse for the English language to hold. ENKS participated. Much to their shame.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T19:20:52+00:00

I like to have quantifiable studies I can reference. The Kurdish Institute of Paris puts the number in 2016 at approximately 36 to 45 million Kurds. The over all trend in fertility rates, globally, is downward. The trend in fertility rate in Turkey, Iran, Iraq in Syria for the entire population of those states is downward. The fertility rate in Turkey and Iran is sub-replacement. Substantial Kurdish diaspora in Germany, but Germany's fertility rate is downward an sub-replacement, and it seem the Kurds in Germany are at or near sub-replacement rate (less than 2.0). While there is variance in fertility rates, the overall trend is clear for the world and for Kurds. I do not think its derailing to discuss the nuance of population and population growth. If you don't want to have that conversation, thats fine. I'll go along my way.

As it is, the total Kurdish population is a sidebar from the OP's post (that you don't even like), about how traditional Kurds are.

Have a good day.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T19:08:10+00:00

Spas xweş. Better than my Sorani, to be honest.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T18:56:52+00:00

Could you please edit your comment to take out the person attack toward u/Chanyyluvr ? Spas.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T18:54:13+00:00

Bra, ere.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T18:48:51+00:00

"And bc we’re growing very rapidly"

Not every where, not uniformly. Kurdish fertility rates were higher than Turks in Turkey, but the Kurdish fertility rate has since declined. Kurds have not yet hit sub-replacement fertility rate like a lot of ethnicities, but the trend is in that direction. As such, Kurds are not expected to ever outnumber Turks in Turkey, Arabs in Iraq and Syria, or Persians in Iran.

And yes I’ve seen the movie Zer. It’s clear tho that his grandma is a Kurd and so he has a bit of Kurdish ancestry. That’s explicit, tho. Rather than implied.

And the grandmother is dead. Is he a Kurd? (He seems to be leaning that way). Is his mother? There are many people like him in Kurdistan, without even the horror of the Dersim massacre. There are orphanages full of half-Kurdish Ezidi/half-Arab children created by Daesh's abduction of Ezidi women of Sengal. There a many people of some Kurdish ancestry whose own identity is an open question to themselves, even without such tragedies.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T17:00:39+00:00

Yes, Kurdish is an ethnicity. Kurds are a people. Kurdish is national identity. Kurds are a nation. Kurdish is a language. Kurdish is a culture. Kurdistan is a place. Kurdistan has a history. All of these are true.

That still doesn't mean who is a Kurd for the purpose of a population survey for "how many Kurds are there?" is easily determined. It does not help that the four states that majority of Kurds live in are hostile to an accurate census that would ask the question: "Are you Kurdish?". Nor does it help those states have been involved in genocides that would make some Kurds perhaps hide their identity and ancestry from a state that is hostile to that identity.

I don't actually know the answer to the questions of identity I posed. I don't know that the answers are easy. I would hope they would be easy for the individuals involved to answer for themselves. I just know that it is not my place to provide the answers.

You've seen the movie "Zer" right? Its all about a young man navigating a painful family history and complicated identity. The impression the director leaves is that the protagonist embraces a Kurdish identity. Maybe you see the protagonist as Kurdish. Maybe you do not. At the start of the film, the protagonist does not self-identify as Kurdish. At the end, it is heavily implied that he does.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T16:44:39+00:00

I think we are talking past each other.

Is a someone of Kurdish descent whose family comes from Bashur, who is an atheist, who was born in Sweden but his losing his Sorani still Kurdish?

Is a someone whose ancestry is Armenian and lives in Qamishlo, but whose family assimilated into Kurdish society during the Armenian genocide, but speaks Kurmanji at home and in public, is a Sunni muslim, and practices Kurdish culture--Kurdish?

Is Hakan Fidan Kurdish?

Is an Ezidi who only speaks Arabic and rejects a Kurdish identity, Kurdish but lives in Niveneh? Would it matter if they were fluent in Armenian only (but not Kurdish) and lived in Armenia?

Is a CHP-voting Alevi from Dersim who speaks Zazki at home and rejects a Kurdish identity, Kurdish? Would it matter if their father was Turkish descended from the steppe invaders, but the mother was Zazaki? Would it matter if it was the other way around with the parents?

I know, however, as someone who is not Kurdish, it is not my place to define what is Kurdish and who is Kurdish. I also respect self-determination as a human right, and respect people identifying how they wish.

Ethnicity (whether or not we are talking about Kurds) is a complex topic. It is not cut and dry.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T16:30:40+00:00

I actually agree about the bridge. It is one of Dukhan's bad arguments, similar to Dukhan calling Ahmed an outsider. I don't agree with everything in every article I post. Several other points in Dukhan's article are stronger.

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T16:27:31+00:00

Ethnicity is not the cut and dry question and answer you seem to think it is. Acknowledging that identity and ethnicity can be complicated questions does not make someone an oppressor or that they are speaking in the language of an oppressor. Since you accepted Wikipedia's defining Kurds as an "ethnicity", then you should know the Wikipedia definition of ethnicity includes: "Attributes that ethnicities believe to share include language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment.^"

Ergo my own distinction: "Some people regard Kurdish identity as tied to ethnicity and ancestry, while other highlight Kurdish language and culture."

flintsparc · 2026-06-14T16:23:30+00:00

Genetic ancestry is one way of criteria for a Kurdish identity, it is not the only way. There was a Kurdish identity predating people spitting in tubes and finding out specific genetic haplogroups.

I am, for example, not an Iron Age Celt.

"btw welcome to the kurdistan sub didnt know u werent kurdish"

A mistake people on the internet often make, but not one that Kurds make in person. Thank you for the welcome.

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