On the main page, I sum up the pitfalls of the Kurdish referendum:

If the referendum triggers new armed conflicts in Iraq, the people living in Kurdistan will be the main losers. A region that is already wracked by war and instability may have to endure another multi-sided conflict for years to come.

Unfortunately, the news over the weekend and today suggests that hostile reactions are going to be every bit as dangerous as I have feared they could be. Turkish military intervention looms:

BREAKING: Turkey's Erdogan denounces Iraqi Kurds' vote, says Turkish army is at Iraqi border, ready to take "necessary steps."

— The Associated Press (@AP) September 25, 2017

The Iraqi government announced Iran’s full support for its position:

PM Al-Abadi receives call from President @HassanRouhani offering Iran’s full support to Iraqi government in maintaining unity of Iraq

— Haider Al-Abadi (@HaiderAlAbadi) September 24, 2017

Iran closed its airspace to flights to and from Iraqi Kurdistan over the weekend at the request of the Iraqi government, and Turkey is considering doing the same.

None of this should come as a shock, since all of these governments have been warning very loudly and publicly that this is how they planned to react if the vote went ahead. These responses to a referendum may seem excessive and even absurd, but it tells us how intensely hostile all of these governments are to the mere idea of a Kurdish state. If they are already prepared to go this far to protest a vote, how much worse would their reaction to the creation of a new state be?