Mosul seized by a small group proclaiming a Sunni pan-state across Syria and Iraq. And now Kurds claiming back Kirkuk from the Arabisation that Saddam Hussein instituted on that northern Iraqi city ("
Iraqi Kurds 'fully control Kirkuk' as army flees," by Paul Wood,
BBC News, 12 June 2014). "
The Fall of Mosul and the False Promises of Modern History," by Juan Cole,
History News Network, 11 June 2014, lays blame for recent events on, well, just about everyone. "
Hold Your Horses, Iraq Is Not About to Fall … Yet," by Douglas Ollivant,
Foreign Policy, June 12, 2014, is not unwilling to apportion blame for the "known-unknowns." But
what has happened is not yet clear, so perhaps assigning the lessons of
why it happened might be a bit premature.
A slightly longer timescale for Iraqi cities is provided in "
Baghdad by Justin Marozzi – review," by Christopher de Bellaigue,
The Guardian, 11 June 2014, which reviews a new book beginning when "the city was founded by the Abbasid caliph Mansur in 762," and including (left) when the Mongols were at the gates in 1258.
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