Battle for Kirkuk

At this point, that title remains metaphorical, but this article paints a troubling portrait of the controversy of Kirkuk, as Kurds seek to undo Ba'athist ethnic cleansing in the oil-rich city so as to improve their chances of having it as their capital. Regular readers will remember that there are lots of unhappy people floating around in refugee camps, and little political structure to contain the conflict. One thing I didn't know before was that the Kurdish leadership is using the rationing system to force Kurds to move to the city. Like so many issues in Iraq today, this has the potential to be explosive.