Iran’s Power Increasing?

Analysts argue that Iran is emerging as a big winner as popular uprisings continue to rage in the Middle East. With the collapse of regimes friendly to Western interests and the mobilization of disaffected Shiite populations in countries like Bahrain, Iran is poised to grasp greater influence in the region. The signs of this may have already began with last week’s passing of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canel, the first time this has happened since the Iranian Revoultion of 1979.

Another car bomb in Iraq

10 more Iraqis were killed as a car bomb targeting a bus of Shi’ite pilgrims in Karbala exploded yesterday, according to the BBC.  There has been a rise in bombings in the last week; the articles mentions analysts who speculate that this is a last ditch effort by al Qaeda to take advantage of the political vacuum in Iraq.

The BBC also has a slide show of the holy sites those pilgrims were headed to in Karbala.

An election primer for Bahrain

The people of Bahrain will head to the polls in two days in parliamentary elections.  BBC News offers an excellent guide to those elections and their significance.  Essentially, the state is ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa family, eventhough the population is majority Shi’ite.  Thus, electioneering that results in Sunni victory may prove caustic.