Reuters

Reuters.
An acute fuel and electricity shortage in Iraq is the key to a
legitimacy crisis for the government (and likely any elected
government). The cost of paraffin for heating has risen fivefold
in the capital and bottled cooking gas tenfold, causing serious
hardship for the many Iraqis without jobs or regular income. Lines
several km (miles) long snake from the city's petrol stations where
drivers can fill up for a subsidised 3 U.S. cents a litre. The choice
is to pay 20 times as much to profiteers. Anger has boiled over, fights
and shooting have broken out.
System attacks impact everyone as
opposed to random terrorism which impacts very few. Any government that
can't deliver the basic services necessary for societal function loses
legitimacy. People ultimately blame the government. This will be a key
to the destabilization of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. [John Robb's Weblog]

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