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IN THE Arabic dialects of Iraq and Syria, a man who is unreasonably stubborn is said to have the mind of a Kurd. Perhaps such hardheadedness explains how the Kurds, buffeted for centuries between Persian, Arab, Turkish and Russian empires, have sustained a proud sense of nationhood. It may also explain why Syria’s 3m-odd Kurds, despite suffering more than other minorities during 40 years of rule by the Assad clan, are only now, and hesitantly, joining the fight to overthrow it.As battles have raged elsewhere, a string of Kurdish-majority towns in Syria’s hitherto relatively peaceful north-east have quietly seen local authority seized from the central government in Damascus. Kurdish activists now occupy most state institutions there, including police stations, and have set up road blocks in a swathe of territory along the frontier with Turkey.Their autonomy is far from complete. Government forces still hold the bigger cities of Kamishli and Hasaka, as well as airports and main roads. But the boldness of the takeover and the apparent complicity, however reluctant, of the Syrian authorities, carry implications that stretch beyond Syria’s borders.Turkey, for instance, is not amused. The best armed and most active of Kurdish groups inside Syria, the Democratic Union Party (known by its Kurdish initials, PYD) is closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (the PKK), a leftist...