The Brits are trying to take over the area by their usual militians: Secret Police Bureaux and their terrorist groups!

January 20, 2011 by Faiz Shakir, Benjamin Armbruster, George Zornick, Zaid Jilani, Alex Seitz-Wald, Matt Duss, and Tanya Somanader Contact Us | Tell-a-Friend | Archives | Permalink | Subscribe to Feed TUNISIA Arabs Doing It For Themselves Last week, the world was stunned as   street protests in Tunisia finally resulted in longtime President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali fleeing the country  on Friday. This was the first time in modern history that an Arab leader had abdicated in response to a popular uprising. Tunisia's Constitutional Court announced that the speaker of parliament, Fouad Mebazaa, had been  appointed the country's interim president. Responding in a speech Wednesday on state television to concerns that a new government is made up of Ben Ali's cronies, Mebazaa "promised a 'total break' with the past," and "said his transition government would ensure an independent justice system and media freedoms." On Thursday, "all of the eight ministers  in Tunisia's interim government who had been members" of Ben Ali's RCD Party "quit the party, but they still remain in their cabinet posts." The announcement came against "a backdrop of continued protests against the new government," and the "Tunisian army fired warning shots in the capital Thursday as demonstrators marched." In an attempt to ease tensions, "the interim government has released all the country's political prisoners." HOW IT BEGAN: The unrest began on Dec. 17 in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid, when  an impoverished street vendor named Mohammed Bouazizi, after being harassed by police, set himself on fire in front of a local government building in protest "over his inability to earn a living in a country beset with high unemployment rates, soaring prices, growing income inequalities and crippling political repression." Bouazizi later died in a hospital. Demonstrations broke out, spreading to the capital, Tunis , with demonstrators "circulating calls to rally over social networks like Facebook and Twitter." The military was deployed around the capital, initially "dispers[ing] protesters with billy clubs, tear gas and bullets." "Some said the army had used rooftop snipers to fire on the crowd." The protests continued, with reports of people "ransacking government buildings in the capital, and throughout other provinces. Police have also been accused of participating in looting, and citizens have made appeals for the protection of their property." Opposition leaders have "portrayed the new government as walking a tightrope, balancing the public's demand for a purge of the old ruling party against their fears of a government collapse that could invite a military takeover." MIDDLE EAST SHOCKWAVES: The overturning of an Arab regime has created shockwaves in the region. Speaking at the Arab Economic Summit in Egypt on Wednesday, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa "warned Middle East leaders that the political upheaval in Tunisia is an indicator of spreading discontent" in the Middle East. "It is on everyone's mind that the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession," said Moussa. "The Tunisian revolution is not far from us. The Arab citizen has entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration." Arab populations "face problems similar to those that led to the unrest in Tunisia -- surging prices, poverty and political systems that offer little or no outlet for dissent." Meanwhile, Iraq's populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hailed the demonstrators, saying in a statement that "the Tunisian people have turned a black page through their own strength, without occupation or outside intervention." Analyst Aaron Zeilin observed, "jihadists' non-involvement in organizing, encouraging, or even participating in the Tunisian protests suggests that the jihadist current has been largely irrelevant to Tunisia's popular uprising." Commenting on the impact of new media technologies on the uprising, Marc Lynch wrote, "Calling Tunisia a 'Twitter Revolution' is simplistic, but even skeptics have to recognize that the new media environment mattered." Lynch also stressed the continuing role of Al Jazeera in relaying information throughout the Arabic-speaking world.  U.S. RESPONSE: Speaking in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday, the day before Ben Ali fled the country, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned, "in too many places, in too many ways, the region's foundations are sinking into the sand. ... Extremist elements, terrorist groups and others who would prey on desperation and poverty are already out there appealing for allegiance and competing for influence." Daniel Brumberg of the U.S. Institute of Peace noted that, despite the "high-flying rhetoric " of George W. Bush's Freedom Agenda, the authoritarian government of Ben Ali -- who held office since 1987 -- remained a key U.S. ally against Islamist extremism. Responding to the protests on January 14, President Obama called "on the Tunisian government to respect human rights, and to hold free and fair elections in the near future that reflect the true will and aspirations of the Tunisian people." Criticizing the Obama administration's response, the Council on Foreign Relation's Mohammad Bazzi wrote that "Obama missed a chance to show the Arab world that he can live up to his lofty rhetoric. He must seize the next opportunity to portray America as a more sympathetic power." On Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "underscored the importance of addressing popular concerns about the lack of civil liberties and economic opportunities, and the need to move forward with credible democratic elections."