A Good Scare

While the unrest in the Arab world isn't a threat to the Iraqi government, it does remind their rulers that they need to keep their people happy since they don't have to do more than vote the bums out if too unhappy.

Maliki's promise, if truly the result of this wider unrest, is a good thing by demonstrating that leaders leave office and turn it over to whoever the people vote for:

Iraqi state TV is reporting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won't run for a third time when his current term is up in 2014.

Of course, it might have just been the secret condition for cobbling together the current coalition, but it makes it more real by being said publicly.