"TURKEY TROUBLE:
It's the holiday season, so perhaps we should look on the bright side. Even though most of Iraq is imploding, at least the Kurdish bits in the north are fairly stable. Right? Well, that's what I thought--even setting aside the whole Kirkuk issue, which still looks worrisome--until this story popped up on my Google News alerts:
Turkey and the United States are reportedly negotiating the possibility of a cross-border operation into northern Iraq, where the PKK has base camps. Two special coordinators appointed by the United States and Turkey have been continuing talks on the possibility of military action in northern Iraq."
More:The Plank