Related:
Whether CIA-sponsored or not some things can spin out of control.
Tunisian ministers quit, join protesters (By David D. Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim, New York Times)
My printed paper carried AP, and I'm tired of the Boston Globe shell games, sorry.
"Tunisia calms as government distances itself from old guard; Protests staged, but police allow peaceful sit-in" by Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Associated Press / January 20, 2011
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s new government said yesterday that it has freed all the country’s political prisoners and moved to track down assets stashed overseas by its deposed president and his widely disliked family.
Tensions on the streets appeared to calm as the administration tried to show it was taking the popular will seriously.
See how easy it would be, governments of the world, if you served us and not bankers?
Hundreds of protesters led a rally in central Tunis demanding that former allies of deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali stop clinging to power. Later, about 30 youths in the capital broke a curfew and set up camp near the heavily guarded Interior Ministry, bringing mats, food, and water for an overnight sit-in. Police didn’t bother them.
That is a clue.
In recent days, police had fired tear gas and clubbed protesters....
When the SECURITY FORCES start JOINING PROTESTERS that is NOT a GOOD SIGN for GOVERNMENTS!
A caretaker government is now struggling to pacify this moderate Muslim nation on the Mediterranean Sea, popular among European tourists and seen as an ally in the West’s fight against terrorism....
Ben Ali’s longtime prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, kept his post and is trying to convince Tunisians a new era has arrived — even if the composition of the interim government has many faces from the old guard.
That's what the CIA was hoping for: dispatch the figurehead and keep the structures in place.
Not what the people had in mind.
Interim President Fouad Mebazaa went on television and promised to live up to the people’s revolt, which he called a revolution....
Finally, a government official told the truth.
Swiss officials estimate Tunisian government officials have put about $620 million into Swiss banks, and the anticorruption group Transparency International France and two other associations filed suit in Paris alleging corruption by Ben Ali and his wife.
A French government minister said the Tunisian central bank director, Taoufik Baccar, has resigned following widespread rumors that the deposed president’s wife fled the country with a stash of gold. The central bank has denied an unsourced report in the French newspaper Le Monde that said Leila Trabelsi was believed to have taken 1.5 tons of gold out of the country, possibly bringing it to Switzerland.
I get those all the time in my agenda-pushing AmeriKan media; they usually call it "spoke on condition of anonymity."
The national prosecutor’s office moved to investigate overseas bank accounts, real estate, and other assets held by Ben Ali, his wife, and other relatives. His relations — especially his wife’s family — were seen as corrupt and dominated many businesses in the nation.
No trickle down, 'eh?
In another effort to ease tensions, the government released 1,800 nonpolitical prisoners who had less than six months to serve, the official news agency reported.
--more--"
"New Tunisian government upbeat after first meeting" by Hadeel al-Shalchi and Bouazza Ben Bouazza, Associated Press / January 20, 2011
TUNIS, Tunisia— The army fired warning shots to calm a noisy but peaceful protest in front of the long-ruling RCD party's headquarters, where demonstrators took down a huge sign and demanded that the government -- dominated by members of the old guard -- be dismantled, too....
Sometimes it seems we would all be better off that way; however, when the Army isn't mowing the people down that is a good thing.
The government suggested that Islamists imprisoned under ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali would be amnestied....
Uh-oh. I can't believe the western intelligence instigators planned on that.
Come to think of it, they never plan on a lot of things.
While police repeatedly shot at protesters in the weeks leading up to Ben Ali's ouster, the army has been playing more of a peacekeeping role since it was brought in last week.
That description from the agenda-pushing paper bothers me a little.
Soldiers are protecting strategic sites and public buildings, and have been manning checkpoints around the capital, but there have been no reports of them shooting at unarmed civilians since Ben Ali left. It is unclear whether the army could emerge in a leadership role in this still unstable country.
Starting to smell like a live coup again.
A top general fired in the dying moments of Ben Ali's regime is back in the picture. Gen. Rachid Ammar is now helping lead efforts to restore security, according to a defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of security affairs.
Related:
"the new general in charge, Rachid Ammar, [is] very close to NATO command and the Israelis he meets regularly in the NATO ‘ Military Mediterranean Dialogue Contact"
The true power in Tunisia now -- and an USraeli asset.
The central bank, meanwhile, saw a leadership change, as a senior World Bank official returned to his native Tunisia to take over the bank....
The globalists sending their man in again.
--more--"
"Prime minister in Tunisia vows to quit politics; Ruling party is under pressure to step aside" by Hadeel al-Shalchi and Bouazza ben Bouazza, Associated Press / January 22, 2011
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisia’s prime minister pledged yesterday to quit politics after elections that he said will be held as soon as possible, amid protests by citizens still angry at officials linked to their deposed president’s regime....
Protesters have been demanding for days the departure of all remnants of the old guard under ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Mohamed Ghannouchi was an ally of Ben Ali and has been struggling to restore calm under a new multiparty government....
Ghannouchi did not say why he is leaving politics or specify when the elections would be held. He said the elections must be a success “to show the world that our country has a civilization.’’
The prime minister also pledged that all of the assets held abroad by Ben Ali’s regime had been frozen and would be returned to Tunisia after an investigation. He did not elaborate.
Tunisians began three days of mourning yesterday, lowering flags and broadcasting recitations of the Koran to mourn dozens who died in the protests that drove their autocratic leader from power....
Central Tunis has seen near-daily protests in the past week....
The government has declared three days of national mourning as it struggles to restore calm and reconcile this Muslim nation in North Africa, whose people are hopeful yet scarred by 23 years of limited freedom that ended when Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.
Tunisia is also a beach and desert haven for European tourists and a US ally in the fight against terror.
Yesterday’s protest in Tunis, the seaside capital, started at the long-dreaded Interior Ministry....
Police in some locations were joining ranks with protesters. Officers climbed atop their patrol cars with protesters, waving flags and chanting along with demonstrators outside the prime minister’s office. One policeman was lifted onto the shoulders of demonstrators and was seen chanting slogans along with the crowd.
Outside the Interior Ministry, a policeman in tears took off his uniform cap and joined the marching demonstrators to applause by protesters.
Interior Minister Ahmed Friaa asked Tunisians to be patient with the new government, which was installed Monday.
“Just wait a few days — we have waited years, just wait a few days,’’ Friaa said....
--more--"
"A lost generation rises as young Tunisians lead revolt; Internet was key weapon used in attacking regime" by Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post / January 23, 2011
TUNIS — They grew up being told to bottle up their frustrations, not to discuss politics, and to accept a life without basic freedoms.
I understand the feeling.
They grew up in a world of paranoia, fearing the secret police, fearing that their cellphones were tapped. To find a good job meant having to know a relative of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the autocrat who ruled this North African nation with an iron fist for 23 years.
Doesn't sound much different than AmeriKa these days.
“We were not living. We were like his puppets,’’ said Asma Nairi, 22, a law student. “If we spoke the truth, we would be punished.’’
You get shunned in AmeriKa.
Tunisia’s revolution was fueled by tens of thousands of young people, most in their teens and early 20s, who ultimately overthrew their leader.
Often tools of the CIA, but not always.
Few analysts or diplomats predicted such an upheaval would take place here, a prosperous and secular Arab nation that lacks an organized opposition.
Yet in interviews across this tense capital, young people of all economic and social classes said they had long felt part of a lost generation of Arab youth, facing problems widely shared in the region, from Morocco to Egypt to Yemen.
They were highly educated and ambitious, but frustrated about job shortages and low wages. They were infuriated by the corruption, the human rights violations, and the government’s unchecked abuse of power.
I feel the same way about mine!!!
But in an information age, shaped by Facebook and Twitter, Tunisia’s youth were also exposed to the openness of the West and the oppression felt by their peers across the Arab world. Their resentment poured out on the Internet, building up until it exploded in cities across Tunisia.
“We grew up hating the government,’’ said Karim Ali, 25, a computer engineer who joined the mass demonstrations that ousted Ben Ali from power....
I learned to hate mine after all the lies (sob)!
Yesterday, about 2,000 Tunisian police staged their own protest, demanding better salaries and insisting they were not to blame for the deaths of protesters.
Tunisia was long considered a model country in the region, with high economic growth rates derived largely from tourism, universities, hospitals, and good infrastructure. But the wealth remained largely in the hands of the elite.
U.S. ally, right?
By some estimates, 20 to 40 percent of the youth are unemployed, mirroring figures in other Arab countries.
In the cafe, unemployed young men — as many as four shared one cup of coffee — said they took to the streets to vent their anger about rising prices, the lack of health benefits, even dues they were forced to pay to the ruling party....
We call them taxes.
“Facebook was the means of our revolution....’’
Hmmmmmm.
--more--"
"Tunisian police arrest allies of ousted president; Demonstrators keep pressing for democracy" by Hadeel Al-Shalchi, Associated Press / January 24, 2011
TUNIS — The measures against former cronies and supporters of deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali came amid continued street protests in the North African country’s capital, Tunis, and efforts by the tenuous interim government to heed the incessant groundswell of opposition to his old guard....
Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution’’ drove the iron-fisted Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14 and sparked similar protests and civil disobedience across the Middle East and North Africa....
Yes, it is a CONFIRMED COUP ATTEMPT, dear readers!
When the AGENDA-PUSHING PRESS puts a COLOR or NAME to it, well....
That explains the daily fixation with the place.
Many observers are looking to see whether Tunisians can complete their fervent push for democracy, but the television station shutdown raised concerns about the new government’s promises to respect freedom of expression....
For Obama and AmeriKa it will be the Internet that is the test.
--more--"
Down to an A3 brief, readers:
"Protests, strikes continue in Tunisia" by Associated Press / January 25, 2011
TUNIS — Authorities clashed with antigovernment protesters outside the prime minister’s office yesterday, teachers went on strike, and police demanded the right to form a union as Tunisia struggled to stabilize itself after its president was overthrown.
Yeah, this thing is SPIRALING OUT of CONTROL!
Expect the news coverage to begin dwindling regarding Tunisia.
After an overnight “sleep-in’’ in defiance of a national curfew, scores of protesters from Tunisian provinces gathered in central Tunis, shouting antigovernment slogans. As the crowd grew rowdy, police fired tear gas grenades in the air, and some demonstrators shattered the windows of police cars.
Schools were set to reopen yesterday after protracted closure because of the unrest, but teachers went on strike. Some students joined the demonstrations....
The confrontation yesterday was brief and involved a small group of protesters, and the atmosphere seemed calm soon afterward.
Agent provocateurs appear everywhere, cui bono?
At one point the army chief of staff, General Rachid Ammar, addressed the crowd, promising the army would be the “guarantor of the revolution’’ and urging calm.
That is no guarantee at all!
--more--"
Today: Globe Editorial US should push democracy
Things must be back under control, 'eh?
And because it is all part of the plan for the area:
"Protesters clash with riot police
ALGIERS — Helmeted riot police armed with batons and shields yesterday clashed with protesters throwing rocks and chairs who tried to march in defiance of Algeria’s ban on public gatherings. At least 19 people were injured, the government said, but an opposition party official put the figure at more than 40. Algeria has been among the many North African and Middle Eastern countries hit by shows of resistance against their autocratic leaders after a young Tunisian man set himself on fire last month."
And where are Americans?
Oh, right, the cold.
Also see: Judge keeps Algerian terror suspect jailed
Yeah, "Al-CIA-Duh" and 9/11, whatever.
