Briefing | A century of betrayal

Kurdish dreams of a homeland are always dashed

Little has gone right since the end of the Ottoman empire

THE TREATY OF SEVRES, signed in 1920, carved the carcass of the Ottoman Empire into a number of nation states, including a “Kurdish State of the Kurds…east of the Euphrates, south of the southern boundary of Armenia as it may be hereafter determined, and north of the frontier of Turkey with Syria and Mesopotamia.” It would, said Winston Churchill, Britain’s minister of colonies, be “a friendly buffer state” between Turks and Arabs.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “No fixed abode”

Who can trust Trump’s America?

From the October 19th 2019 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition
An illustration depicting a player holding a wild card and a pair of Aces, while Trump sits anxiously on the other side of the table.

The transactional world Donald Trump seeks would harm not help America

Ukraine, Gaza and China will all test his self-interested approach to diplomacy

A photo collage illustrating the chaos Trump is causing, featuring Trump, Eric Adams, Elon Musk, a plastic straw, Mt. McKinley, the USAID flag, the Kennedy Center DEI, and the transgender symbol.

Donald Trump is a reckless president, but not yet a lawless one

He has yet to flatly defy a court order, which would initiate a constitutional crisis


 Soldiers of the Ukrianian Armed Forces inspect FPV drones

America’s military supremacy is in jeopardy

To win future wars it needs new weapons, new suppliers and a new system of procurement


Online scams may already be as big a scourge as illegal drugs

And they are growing fast

Even in India, bureaucracy is being curtailed

Many small steps could make a big difference

Many governments talk about cutting regulation but few manage to

Yet radical deregulation is often a big boost to growth