Kurt T

Kurt T

USMC / PESHMERGA
Spent 4 years with the United States Marine Corps and an additional 3 years with the Kurdish Peshmerga and Ukrainian Army.

Peshmerga deny Iraqi Army forces entry into Kurdistan

The Peshmerga stationed just outside Kirkuk have been chomping at the bit to get back into the city and contribute to security efforts there. However, they have been rebuffed numerous times by the Iraqi government. Now the Iraqi Army is requesting to enter Kurdistan in an effort to hunt down Islamic State militants. Deputy commander […]

Stay Tooned: Russian trolls expertly manipulate the citizens of the United States

The Russians understand they don’t have to fight us conventionally or even unconventionally at this point. They are perfectly content to watch us tear ourselves apart while they sit back and instigate as they eat popcorn. Many of the memes being shared by both democrats and republicans in the United States can be attributed to […]

KRG Prime Minister discusses Kurdistan’s future with Senator Lindsey Graham

This week, Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani met with United States Senator Lindsey Graham to discuss the many issues Kurdistan is currently facing. The two spoke in Erbil primarily about the continued efforts by the Peshmerga to subdue the Islamic State and the nearly 2 billion internally displaced people that have been affected […]

US Department of State preparing for sanctions on Iran

The United States is beginning to feel the effects of its shifting policy on Iran, mostly due to the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. The State Department’s Director of Policy Planning, Brian Hook, addressed reporters this week and spoke about the decreasing value of Iranian currency. He elaborated that the rial rose to an […]

Tooned: Chill dude, they’re just fireworks

This Independence Day many of us will be surrounding ourselves with family and friends while we BBQ and blow stuff up. As a veteran, it’s important to me that we enjoy this day with all we’ve got because it’s exactly what we served for and is a celebration of the American way of life. Now, […]

Iran’s potential land bridge and the subversive conflict to control it

It has been reported that the British Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted an airstrike on an element of soldiers aligned with the Syrian Regime who were threatening to attack coalition forces located near al-Tanf last week. Al-Tanf is the location of a key U.S. military base near the Iraq and Jordanian borders with Syria. The […]

Kurdistan gears up for election season with an all new electoral registration staff

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has appointed 1,500 new employees to oversee voter registration for their parliamentary elections in September. Another 50,000 will be brought on under contract as well by the Kurdish electoral commission. When Iraq held its may parliamentary elections, widespread accusations of fraudulent voting practices were echoed throughout Kurdistan by several political […]

Iraqi Judge orders manual recount of parliamentary election votes

A panel of judges that were appointed by Iraq’s Supreme Court have ruled that the votes from the May parliamentary election will be recounted manually by appointees. However, the votes will only be recounted at locations where political parties filed formal complaints. The recount will start in Kirkuk this week. A statement released by the […]

Peshmerga take out ISIS financial head near Makhmour

A high ranking Islamic State member, Abu Obaida, was killed on Saturday by Peshmerga commandos. Abu Obaida oversaw logistics and financing for all ISIS operations. The raid took place at night in the city of Makhmour, it was coordinated operation with United States led coalition forces via air support and Special Operations advisers. Furthermore, several […]

Netherlands continues foreign aid efforts in the Middle East

The Netherlands Foreign Trade Minister, Sigrid Kaag, recently visited Kurdistan, Iraq and Jordan in a move to push rehabilitation efforts in the wake of Islamic State conflict. Primarily they will be focusing on the city of Mosul, further Peshmerga military advisory work and other humanitarian aid programs. Kaag addressed Netherlands press stating that, “It is of […]

Kurdistan has begun regulating water for conservation efforts

The Iraqi-Kurdistan city of Sulaymaniah has begun mandating the installation of meters that will record the use of water consumption in an effort to reduce waste. The director of water resources for the city, Sarbast Osman, reported that, “On Sunday, we will start installing water meters to record water consumption of households in Sulaymaniah. The […]

The United States looks to find cooperation with Turkey over Manbij

The United States is attempting to maintain its relationship with the Turkish government, especially now that the elections have concluded and Syria remains a major point of dispute between the two. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recognizes that current diplomatic relations are “difficult with the Turks,” but hopes future agreements of the Syrian city of […]