Beer and Bullets

Chinese brewery Tsingtao is going to be opening up a new plant in Thailand soon. Whatever, conquer that market, just export more of that good stuff to the states.

The Turkey-Iraq issue is beginning to bog down. A couple of days ago a few hundred Turkish soldiers crossed the border and went about six miles into Iraq, then withdrew back to Turkey. This was accompanied by artillery fire and airstrikes. For all the fuss and bluster (fluster) about a massive invasion of the Iraqi north, winter is coming and any large-scale military operation is going to turn into a logistical nightmare in the mountainous borderlands. Still, expect the Turks to keep the appearance intact that such an operation is waiting in the wings until they get what they want, namely, the Kurdish Regional Government to condemn the PKK attacks, the Iraqi government to hand over any Kurdish militants it can, and the U.S. to treat Kurdish militants the same way they treat insurgents.