No doubt purely temporarily, until the situation resolves itself:

Iraqi Kurdish forces say they have taken full control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk as the army flees before an Islamist offensive nearby.

“The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga,” Kurdish spokesman Jabbar Yawar told Reuters. “No Iraq army remains in Kirkuk now.”

Kurdish fighters are seen as a bulwark against Sunni Muslim insurgents.

:Murmuring: Tsk, tsk. Bad future reliable American client state! Bad! No biscuit!

Moe Lane

PS: You may want to take a look at that BBC map.  Because I’m pretty sure the people running don’t-call-it-Kurdistan are looking at one too, and thinking that Mosul’s portion of the Tigris would make a much better don’t-call-it-a-border.

PPS: Annnnd there’s the Kurds walking into the K1 base and leaving with all the things.  Including the tanks. Which will no doubt all be lost over the next week, in a series of tragic canoe accidents.

Photo via Shutterstock