Good News / Bad News

The good news out of Iraq is that "Iraqi officials said today that they would move to halt the activity of Kurdish rebels who have been striking across the border from northern Iraq, a promise delivered amid a flurry of international diplomatic efforts to prevent a widening conflict between the two countries." The bad news, of course, is that Iraqi officials don't have any practical authority over events in Kurdistan so this is all meaningless.

All throughout the article we're hearing about commitments made by Maliki, calls to Maliki, meetings with Maliki, etc., etc., etc. But Maliki's irrelevant!