Anyone who has honestly studied history will tell you it is a bad idea to make specific predictions because, as Wyclef says, anything can happen. At the same time we study history because repeating patterns do tend to emerge and those patterns can be used to forecast possible outcomes in the same way as a Farmers Atlas.
So although I don't know nearly enough about what is going on, despite staying on top of the news, I want to say the new information from Iraq following the most recent temple bombing sounds historically bad.
A major Sunni group has withdrawn from talks following a night of violence in retaliation for the bombing of the Shiite temple. News reports seem to indicate that many are calling for Civil War, and given the historical oppression, don't underestimate the possibility of localized small scale genocide being attempted. I say localized based on the assumption we will be able to prevent large scale.
The Shiites make up about 60% of Iraq, a strong but not overwhelming majority. And although Sunni's are a clear minority in Iraq (about 30%), support could come from the Sunni majority countries to Iraq's west, as the majority of middle easterners, and muslims for that matter, are Sunni. Should this happen, look for Iran to support the Shites, and us to be caught in the middle.
Kurds have long wanted an indepenent Kurdistan, and have already engaged in a losing civil war to acheive it in the past. If they see an angle, they will likely play it, possibly bringing Turkey into the fray.
This is old news in a sense, as we had been expecting this since day one, but with these attacks specifically on Sunni Mosques following the bombing of the Shiite shrine leaders have been stating they no longer have faith in the ability of the government to protect them. The people are already well armed, some already in local militia.
We have a potential perfect storm for an ugly civil war, which could easily expand over the rest of the middle east. Hopefully last night was an aberation rather than a beginning.