# How expensive to buy out Kurdistan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 25, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485 "2018-01-25T21:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/41 "2018-01-27T15:09:34Z")
> [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](#): > > All of these blunders are based on simplistic notions of who wants what. And a comprehensive refusal to learn from history. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/42 "2018-01-27T16:02:08Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If I offered you $5,000,000, would you agree to vote for Donald J. Trump in the next election? That isn’t even close to the correct analogy. Something closer would be, how much money would it take for the NRA to support abolishment of the Second Amendment? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/43 "2018-01-28T02:21:31Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Cite? It’s a moment in time, but just as an example here’s a short article on [HDP losses to the AKP after the November 2015 election](http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/why-did-most-turkey-s-lost-pro-kurdish-votes-go-ruling-ak-party-1279486418). Now just five months earlier the HDP had been riding strong, but increased violence had caused that to reverse and of course before that the AKP had been more dominant in the area. What’s less important than the shift of a few parliamentary seats and few percent of the vote is the general attitude. A fair number of Kurds, whether it is a majority or a sizeable minority, while they may not be exactly comfortable with the status quo( which can be damn poor in rural eastern Turkey ), aren’t necessarily separatists either. Or really more succinctly what **Hector\_St\_Clare** said ;). ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/44 "2018-01-29T13:49:32Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > That isn’t even close to the correct analogy. > > Something closer would be, how much money would it take for the NRA to support abolishment of the Second Amendment? An even better example, since it’s about national identity and belonging, is “how much would you have to get paid to give up your citizenship”, or specifically for Americans living in California, say, “how much would you have to get paid to be OK with selling California to China and moving to Wisconsin”. I’d be OK with both those things personally, but that’s because I’m not very enthusiastic or invested emotionally in the United States of America. Many or most Americans feel differently and would probably have to get paid prohibitive amounts of money to be ok with either those things. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/45 "2018-01-29T14:34:50Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > An even better example, since it’s about national identity and belonging, is “how much would you have to get paid to give up your citizenship”, or specifically for Americans living in California, say, “how much would you have to get paid to be OK with selling California to China and moving to Wisconsin”. $29.95. If you call in the next 20 minutes, we’ll throw in Oregon and Washington state, too!! ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/46 "2018-01-29T14:44:23Z")
> [@Hector\_St\_Clare](#): > > An even better example, since it’s about national identity and belonging, is “how much would you have to get paid to give up your citizenship”, or specifically for Americans living in California, say, “how much would you have to get paid to be OK with selling California to China and moving to Wisconsin”. Agreed - any scenario involving trading of one’s core values for monetary gain is a much better frame of reference than throwing away one vote for a fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/47 "2018-01-31T04:24:20Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If I offered you $5,000,000, would you agree to vote for Donald J. Trump in the next election? Yes, humanity be damned, and I’d be in the company of 10 million plus suckers who did it for free! I’m a human after all, a rationalization machine. What’s one little vote? I could totally assuage my guilt with 5mil greenbacks. In Tibet I’d be celebrated as the-hero-who-did-all-the-opium-so-the-children-couldn’t. In the case of Kurdistan, there would be heads of state and their political partners to directly blame for all the tumult. Politically it makes a lot more sense to reap the rewards of uncritical solidarity based on fear and anger. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/48 "2018-01-31T05:50:26Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If I offered you $5,000,000, would you agree to vote for Donald J. Trump in the next election? This is a good example of the difference between ethics based on outcomes vs ethics based on principles. I subscribe to the ethics based on outcomes. Since I live in a state that is 100% likely to go for Trump next election (sigh, Texas), I see no harm in it. I’ll have you know that I’m willing to wear a hidden camera so you can confirm that I voted for Trump and I’ll sell my vote much, much cheaper than 5 million. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/49 "2018-02-01T07:53:38Z")
I don’t know what it is with this school of thought that says that money can buy anything or everything. Some people cannot understand that some things just don’t have a price tag. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/50 "2018-02-01T10:04:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I don’t know what it is with this school of thought that says that money can buy anything or everything. Some people cannot understand that some things just don’t have a price tag. Again, I think this is a matter of framing and that the people here are scandalized too much by the thought of evil evil money to be creative. Pet rocks were a fad for a short time. It’s just a matter of coming up with the right presentation. ---
**Author:** ![Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inbred_Mm_domesticus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/51 "2018-02-01T13:30:24Z")
Care Bears were a fad. My Little Pony was a fad. Trolls are everywhere! People will buy anything! ---
**Author:** ![AI\_Proofreader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@AI\_Proofreader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AI_Proofreader)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/52 "2018-02-05T05:34:59Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > :dubious: > Erdogan has always been fairly moderate on the Kurd issue, comes with not being a nationalist. The current actions have been forced on him by circumstances, the rise of Kurdish militias due to US support in Syria, and thats something no Turkish leader of any description could tolerate. > > Most of the “plucky” Kurds the West loves to gush over, are ethno-nationalists of the worst type who if they came to actual power would conduct ethnic cleansing of the type that would make 1990’s Serbs blush. What no one’s learnt _anything_ from Aung Sung Suu Kyi? Never thought I’d see “Erdogan” and “moderate” in the same sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/53 "2018-02-05T07:17:58Z")
> [@Inbred\_Mm\_domesticus](#): > > Care Bears were a fad. My Little Pony was a fad. Trolls are everywhere! People will buy anything! They bought Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485/54 "2018-02-05T09:32:23Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If one wanted to bribe the politicians and/or people of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran to forget about wasting energy trying to maintain hold on the Kurds, about how much would that likely cost? One thing which used to work well with Turkey, and cost nothing, was promising to one day maybe thinking about letting them join the EU. For reals, no foolin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-expensive-to-buy-out-kurdistan/807485.md?page=2)