Category Archives: protest

more Tunisia coverage: Hartley, Hitchens, BBC, Channel 4

18Jan11 – 1:24 am

Eustonite blogger Mick Hartley takes issue with at least one aspect of the article by Michael Koplow that I linked to previously, as well as linking to Christopher Hitchens’ 2007 and 2011 commentaries on the political situation in Tunisia. Both the BBC and Channel 4 ask “the domino question”.

By Damian Counsell | Also posted in Africa | Comments (0)

“Tunisia: That ‘Wikileaks Revolution’ meme”

16Jan11 – 12:25 am

Dan Murphy questions a fashionable view of what triggered what is already being referred to as the Jasmine Revolution: The theory goes that private US diplomatic cables from the Tunis embassy released via Wikileaks on December 7 revealed to Tunisians that Ben Ali was an authoritarian despot, that his family was supremely corrupt, and that […]

By Damian Counsell | Also posted in foreign policy | Comments (0)

“Why Tunisia’s Revolution Is Islamist-Free”

15Jan11 – 11:52 pm

In Foreign Policy, Michael Koplow offers his background view of the dark irony behind the sudden fall of Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali—a history of ruthless suppression of Islamist opponents—and a warning for those dreaming of a domino effect: Unlike in Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, and most other secular Arab autocracies, the main challenge to […]

By Damian Counsell | Also posted in foreign policy | Comments (3)