Charlie Rose

Tunisianlawyer14  01/23/2011 12:44 PM Report

As answer to REMant 01/18/2011 12:02 PM comment:

As A university professor in legal and political sciences who lived in Tunisia and left to the USA under Ben Ali dictatorship. I want to confirm that the popular revolt is purely a spontanious movement against the dictatorship and the crimes against human rights. Ben Ali regime used the Islamists as excuse to hide his family corruption. And i'm optimist concerning the futur of tunisian liberation, because knowing them very well and their history,Tunisian are a very moderate and educated people and today they taught the world a precious lesson of democracy,maturity and peaceful changes. So there is no risque of terrorism or islamism and no risque of radicalism. I join my voice to Dr Malika Zghal-Harvard.and it's not because The English Civil War and the French Revolution similarly, both ending in tyranny, that the tunisian movement will end the same..Tunisians are very smart and their will to rebuild their country will be stronger than any tyranny. Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence...

REMant  01/18/2011 12:02 PM Report

Tunisia is something of a paradox, because it has been in the forefront of regional development. The government came under attack for its autocratic methods, but undoubtedly the worldwide economic downturn was a large factor. There's widespread unemployment throughout the Arab side of the Mediterranean from Morocco to Jordan as a result of the "recession," but food and energy prices have risen sharply, unquestionably as a result, not just of the weather, but of the easy money policies of the central banks. As I've said repeatedly, these may help us temporarily, but at the expense of the poor and people elsewhere, and it has to be seen as unmitigated selfishness, which will not, in the long run, earn us many friends. Too, the ousted president cooperated against the Islamists and we turned a blind eye to his heavy-handedness, as we have with all the other strongmen in the region, which puts us in a very precarious position should they fall from power. While it appears to be a popular uprising, it is not clear that it is or will remain oriented toward the West. Self-immolation echoes the beginning of troubles in South Vietnam, when Buddhists monks chose to protest in this way against the government, and they were not Communists. The beginnings of revolutions never are their conclusions. American Whigs began ours, interested in recognition not independence, and they were quickly rebranded Loyalists. The English Civil War and the French Revolution similarly, both ending in tyranny. Nor has the change of govt in Pakistan been much of a blessing. And no matter what kind of govt they adopt, they will not be able on their own to solve the economic problem. That, I think, must play into the hands of the radicals. BTW, the old ministers in the interim govt are said to be technocrats not politicians.