A key death in Iraq

This kinda got lost amidst all the Kennedy stuff, but former SIIC head Abdul Aziz al-Hakim finally succumbed to cancer. The death isn't a surprise, and his son has been running the operation for awhile, but this death does put some shift in Iraqi Shia politics.

The son runs the direct SIIC operation, but lacks some of the broader influence his father had over other affiliated Shia groups.

The new core Shia/Iran influenced bloc looking to angle out Maliki is now less determined by the SIIC.

It's not fully clear what that means in a bigger picture, but, more than likely, it offers Iran space to increase its influence.

(And I know the SIIC has worked with Iran forever, but they did so as two parties working together. This death and the power shifts from it takes the SIIC down a peg and makes the power balance even more tilted towards Iran.)