End of an era: Beginning of something new?

Rob Prince

End of an era: Beginning of…something new? “I’m leaving on a jet plane; don’t know when I’ll be back again…”   

The words of John Denver forty years ago in the mouth of Zine Ben Ali today? Is it all coming to an ignonimous end for Tunisia’s president and his wife Leila Trabelsi?    

‘The word on the Tunisian street’… or on the internet social networks – almost the same thing these days – is that it is almost over for Tunisia’s first couple,  that they are emptying out what is left in Tunisia’s coffers, that an Airbus is fueled, ready and waiting to take off, as are the private jets of members of their two extended families… Read the rest of this entry »

Will the Tunisian President Go the Way of Ceausescu? (Part 1)

End of an era: Beginning of…something new? “I’m leaving on a jet plane; don’t know when I’ll be back again…”

The words of John Denver forty years ago in the mouth of Zine Ben Ali today? Is it all coming to an ignonimous end for Tunisia’s president and his wife Leila Trabelsi? 

‘The word on the Tunisian street’… or on the internet social networks – almost the same thing these days – is that it is almost over for Tunisia’s first couple,   Read the rest of this entry »

How a man setting fire to himself sparked an uprising in Tunisia

Photograph: Str/AP

The Tunisian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Watching events in Tunisia over the past few days, I have been increasingly reminded of an event in 1989: the fall of the Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. Is the Tunisian dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, about to meet a similar fate? 

After 22 years in power, Ceausescu’s end came suddenly and somewhat unexpectedly. Read the rest of this entry »