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Many younger Arabs hope to break the Western stereo-type of Jihadi terrorism and to dream of more freedom from crony Totalitarianism, Foreign domination, Medieval religious oppression etc. and for New Openness, Modernity and Economic development etc.

This will be interesting. The Tunisian military is currently keeping a tentative lid on things; but Tunisia's military is relatively small and relies on 1-year conscripts for manpower. It is also associated with the prior regime. It would have a very hard time ruling without allies.

If that analysis is correct, everything will depend on the depth and sanity of the military's coalition partner. Tunisia has a fair amount going for it -- fairly strong middle class, good rate of growth until 2009, no recent population explosion. On the other hand, can it survive the expectations of the rest of the Arab world? All the noise suggests that these (very diverse) expectations will be too high, setting up any new regime to splinter and fail.

How does one help a neighbor in the midst of the chaos of an overthrown government, yet not be seen as an interfering hegemon? I hope the American and European ambassadors visit the new president and firmly enform him that free and fair elections are expected, and that we would be happy to help organize and observe them. Beyond that, food aid if they need it, but no troops, no support of any faction. If there have been military liaisons in the past, a dicrete visit from a fellow general to offer advice on how the military should conduct themselves might be a help to Tunisia's army. I hope this will be a useful counter-example to those who believe Iraq was a good idea.

God's speed to them all, hopefully this will bring some great change!

Here's a great opportunity for Tunisians to show the world that religious sectarianism and irrational fundamentalism are not synonym with Islam.

Don't hold your breath, though.

Americans are not any more responsible for arab dictators than they are for communist dictators. East Germany was not ended by Americans; it was ended by East Germans.

These are exciting times for the Tunisian people. I agree with “Ohio” that Tunisia will need outside encouragement to progress towards a viable and robust democracy. Take the example of Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989: the period after overturning totalitarian regimes was very volatile, especially when there was no established strong political opposition (e.g. Romania). The numerous EU incentives and guidance sped up their civil society progress and economic recovery. The EU, the US and not least Turkey will have to do the same with Tunisia and provide the prospect for various incentives (e.g. free trade agreements, free movement etc.) along with their expertise to guide Tunisia change in what it deserves to become: a free, democratic and economically sound country.

Viva la Tunisia!

Tunisia's Nervous Neighbors
Events in Tunisia are being closely watched across the Arab world, by both political leaders and citizens. While many people have been celebrating, leaders may be nervously wondering what happens next http://www.newslook.com/videos/283858-tunisia-s-nervous-neighbors?autopl...

El Chourouk made an interesting point in comparing Tunisia to China. This is certainly a fascinating event, although the feeling that this may be compared to the French Revolution is a bit overblown. In terms of effect, al-Ahkbar is closer to the truth, even if it reflects the mood of a country where both the Government and the Opposition forces are closely linked to the Stars and Stripes and Syria and Iran respectively. Still, one wonders what will come next...

While the US loses an ally in the War on Terror, leaders should take note on a Machiavellian scale: educated populations in dejected nations transform their anger toward actively seizing fair participation in their own political-economic systems; poorly educated populations in disgruntled nations, on the other hand, adopt extremist mentors and turn to religious fundamentalism. They direct their anger to unfocused fights against loosely defined, but populist thirst quenching, “oppressors.” The US State Department should strongly considering preemptively fighting wars with education and aid rather than ineffective guns.

For more analysis of Tunisia's revolution, read "Revolution in Tunisia Is Like a Disneyland Vacation for the Ruling Family," which can be found athttp://gcontente.blogspot.com/2011/01/revolution-in-tunisia-is-like.html

We can all hope for the best and wish Tunisia good luck, but I can't help wondering: is Islam really compatible with democracy and total freedom? And is the Arab mind mature enough for these ideas?

I have my doubts!

to Swedane,

Unfortunately we all have.

Let's just hope and wish Tunisians the very best ant that their revolution doesn't fall in the trap of many others: going backward full steam.

I'm very much afraid this will be the signal for a world upheaval that has been brewing silently for quite sometime.

All of the West should learn from this, if they haven't learned from other past incidents: the desire for freedom, responsible government, and equality of economic opportunity is a universal human desire, not a solely Western trait. From the rise of Portugal's empire to the present day, the West has treated the rest of the world as an area to be exploited and its people as a cheap labour pool to be repressed in order to further the goal of economic exploitation. This is no more a sustainable approach than is destructive exploitation of the natural environment. We have loudly applauded our own march towards more democratic and egalitarian societies, but we have been less than enlightened in extending those values to other parts of the world. While it is true that we no longer enslave foreign nationals, that we have mostly reversed colonialism, and we have mostly abandoned gunboat diplomacy, our support for repressive regimes is not a very distant memory in many parts of the world, nor was the recent military overthrow of one repressive regime terribly well received by the population of Iraq.

I believe that an aspect of the current economic problems facing the West is the collapse of Western hegemony and the loss of economic advantage for the West as a result. If this is not yet the case, it soon will be. We must not only develop an economic system that is sustainable in terms of our impact on the environment, but also an economic system that is economically and politically sustainable. The resentment of the West that is obvious in some of these quotes from Middle Eastern newspapers is something we must take extraordinary measure to reverse, or we will pay a hard price for our past misconduct at some point in the future, and perhaps that will be in the very near future.

This is a really informative post. I like these kinds of posts--they give you the perspective of a different culture. Thanks.

Swedane, you might want to spend some quality time with some Arabs (not to mention some non-Arab Muslims). In my (admittedly anecdotal) experience, there is no incompatibility at all with freedom or with democracy. Indeed, there seems an almost uniform longing for change in that direction.

A combination of police/military power and a government control of oil wealth has kept the lid on so far. But I see no reason why that cannot change. And, from what information is currently available, the autocrats across the Arab world are very worried about exactly that.

Though interesting, it's never quite clear to me, why these articles appear under the Newsbook heading...

@AJ Johnstone Vancouver

"From the rise of Portugal's empire to the present day, the West has treated the rest of the world as an area to be exploited and its people as a cheap labour pool to be repressed in order to further the goal of economic exploitation. This is no more a sustainable approach than is destructive exploitation of the natural environment."

It's typical left wing BS. What would you replace it with? Economic exploitation is more or less the same whether its Western, Turkish or Chinese. Grow up and get with the program.