Three Iraqs
| 08:23 UK time, Monday, 13 November 2006
One of the proposals being promoted to try to limit the violence in Iraq has been to partition the country.
Peter Galbraith, former US ambassador in Croatia during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, is one of the most prominent .
He has been working with Kurds in northern Iraq advising them on how to strengthen their position post invasion.
Iraqi unity is a myth, runs the argument, and creating three separate nations - Sunni, Shia, Kurd - is the way to peace.
Partition always seems like a good idea in a situation where interethnic violence is worsening - "keeping them apart" is bound to appear better than "letting them fight".
But the history of partition is not encouraging.
You can ask: did the separation of the constituent parts of the former Yugoslavia provide a lasting solution?
I am in a contradictory position over this. In 1989, I was arguing with Slovenian friends who were worried about going it alone that independence would be in their interests - it was obvious that the Slovenian economy and culture was being held back by the leaden quasi-socialism of post-Titoism. (Sorry about the pol-science jargon but you get the idea.)
But at the same time I am a Yugo-nostalgic about the relationship between the former southern republics - Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Their histories, of invasion and foreign imperial rule, gave them many more cultural and political links than the much discussed 'ancient hatreds', I think.
And separating them is still causing problems - see, for just one example, the latest finding a final status for Kosovo.
In his excellent book Karl Ernest Meyer gives his view of the failure of partition in Bengal, leading to failure in India.
He also mentions Cyprus as a failed partition.
Which is an argument against the partition that some claim as a success - the massive .
That may have eliminated one source of violence.
But Turkey's current difficulties with the EU over recognition of Cypriot ships indicates that problems nationalities have living together may be deferred but in the end they have to be confronted.
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