Toying with Kurdish independence

The NYTimes obliquely connects the two main issues in Shia/Kurd politics.

While the Kurdish regional government has signed the well reported "independent" oil deal with Bush friend, Ray Hunt, angering the Shia Iraqi central government, the Shia government has threatened to sign a terrorism agreement with Turkey "that Kurds fear might pave the way for Turkish soldiers to cross into Iraq to pursue Turkish Kurdish separatists."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

(Later: A State Dept official says the Hunt Oil deal "needlessly elevated tensions between the K.R.G. and the national government of Iraq." (And, the State Dept knew about the deal before it was signed.))