I'm so glad Zarif and the 5+1 ministers did not win the Nobel Peace Prize for their nuclear agreement. It was not outside the realm of possibilities. The Nobel committee has been ridiculous in the past, giving the Peace Prize to the likes of Henry Kissiner, Yasser Arafat and, more recently, Barack Obama. It just doesn't sound right.

Instead the prize went to "Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet for helping the country's transition to democracy". 

The fact that Tunisians have chosen the democratic rout instead of violence and bloodshed is downright miraculous in a region where guns dominate, where Islamic radicals have taken savagery to new heights, where military men in Algeria, Egypt and Syria crush secular democrats as ruthlessly as Islamists.

Naturally, the chances of Tunisia surviving the Arab Spring was seen as close to zero. But somehow they pulled through.

After the fall of the old dictatorship, the country voted for an Islamist government while a new constitution was being drafted. The representatives, Islamists and secular, settled with a document that is one the most progressive among Muslim countries, minimizing the role of religion and emphasizing democratic principles. New elections were then held and this time the Islamists lost. The government was handed over to the secular winners - peacefully. Absolutely amazing, for a country stuck between a military-backed regime (Algeria) and an Islamist hell (Libya).

Tunisians still have a long way to go and remaining on a peaceful path to democracy will require hard work and lots of luck. But democracy is a process and they have started it. Good for them. Hope for the rest us.