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  1. #1
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Default Tunisia: catch all

    Pivotal websites of the Tunisian government have been hacked by pro-Wikileaks activists. Sites belonging to the Ministry of Industry and the Tunisian Stock Exchange were both targeted by the Anonymous group since Monday.
    Five other key government sites have also been attacked or defaced because of the "outrageous level of censorship" the Tunisian government enforces. Anonymous have also targeted the websites of the Zimbabwean government recently after Robert Mugabe's wife Grace sued a Zimbabwean newspaper for $15m over its reporting of a diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks. The cable had linked Mrs Mugabe wealth to the country's diamond mines. The attacks also hit Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF political party's website.
    Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/articl...#ixzz1AJIiu9sW

    Thousands of Tunisians have taken to the streets in recent weeks to call for extensive economic and social change in their country.

    Among the fundamental changes the protesters have been demanding is an end to the government's repressive online censorship regime and freedom of expression.

    That battle is taking place not just on the country's streets, but in internet forums, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.

    The Tunisian authorities have allegedly carried out targeted "phishing" operations: stealing users passwords to spy on them and eradicate online criticism. Websites on both sides have been hacked.
    http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...145839362.html
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  2. #2
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    The battles between Tunisian youth and the government are now being fought on the internet, as much as on the streets of the controlled North African country.

    While activists accuse the authorities of hacking into e-mails, blogs and Facebook accounts, some are fighting back, launching cyberattacks against government websites in the same way that supporters of WikiLeaks had done last month.
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a18b4d6-1...#ixzz1ArQ5nVJC

    In this latest update, The Tech Herald will address the newest developments in Tunisia. The original story will start on page three. The first update can be found on page two.

    http://www.thetechherald.com/article...stors-Update-2
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  3. #3
    Council Member tequila's Avatar
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    The Tunisian government begins to crack.

    HAMMAMET, Tunisia — The police on Thursday all but abandoned this exclusive Mediterranean beach town — haven to the capital’s rich and powerful — as rioters calling for the ouster of Tunisia’s authoritarian president swarmed the streets, torched bank offices and ransacked a mansion belonging to one of his relatives.

    In the fourth week of protests sweeping Tunisia, violence escalated in the capital, Tunis, as well, where late in the afternoon crowds defied tanks and machine guns deployed around the central boulevards. Witnesses said several were killed, adding to a death toll already in the dozens. There were reports that a general strike had been called for Friday.

    In a possible sign of divisions in the government, the Tunisian military withdrew from the capital later Thursday and interior security forces took their place in the streets. In the evening, the president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, delivered a televised address in which he announced major concessions, saying that he had ordered some food prices cut and hinting that he would not run for re-election, The Associated Press reported.
    The president fires his interior minister.

    Successful police states don't appease demonstrators - they crush them, as in Iran. The Tunisian security forces don't appear to have the vicious brutality of the Iranian regime.

    The first successful 'color revolution' in the Arab world?

    Brian Whitaker and Arabist.net are providing excellent coverage in English, though I'd imagine our French and Arabic-speaking boarders have even better sources available.
    Last edited by tequila; 01-13-2011 at 10:45 PM.

  4. #4
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    President Ben Ali gave a hastily scheduled televised address on Thursday night, his second in the past week, and this time he appeared rattled. He no longer blamed foreign terrorists or vowed to crack down on protesters. Instead, he pledged to give in to many of the protesters’ demands, including an end to the government’s notoriously tight censorship, but rejecting calls for an immediate end to his 23-year rule.

    “I am telling you I understand you, yes, I understand you,” Mr. Ben Ali, 74, declared. “And I decided: total freedom for the media with all its channels and no shutting down Internet sites and rejecting any form of monitoring of it.”
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/wo...a.html?_r=2&hp

    From two days ago

    Jobless youths in Tunisia riot using Facebook

    And what has helped to break the barrier of fear that kept Tunisian anger bottled up for so long? Social networks like Facebook, which have helped organize protests and fuel online rage across this North African nation.

    Police have fired repeatedly on protesters. The government says 23 people have died in the riots — 21 in the last three days — but unions and witnesses say at least 46 have died. In the town of Kasserine, site of the bloodiest confrontation, police were reported to have killed a man carrying the coffin of a child.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110111/...unisia_riots_4
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  5. #5
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has left the country, amid the worst unrest there in decades. The Arabic language network al-Jazeera says the speaker of parliament is temporarily in charge.

    The president was reported to have boarded a flight out of the country Friday evening local time. The military had sealed off the airport and closed Tunisian airspace a short time beforehand.

    A state of emergency was also declared earlier Friday, with public gatherings banned and security forces authorized to shoot violators.
    http://www.voanews.com/english/news/...113607609.html
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
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    Two thousand pounds of education
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  6. #6
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Did Wikileaks and Twitter Cause Tunisia's Revolution?
    http://gawker.com/5733816/did-wikile...ias-revolution

    The First WikiLeaks Revolution?
    http://wikileaks.foreignpolicy.com/p...nisia_protests

    ANONYMOUS on Tunisia, beginning of January
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFLaBRk9wY0
    A scrimmage in a Border Station
    A canter down some dark defile
    Two thousand pounds of education
    Drops to a ten-rupee jezail


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    Quote Originally Posted by AdamG View Post
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a18b4d6-1...#ixzz1ArQ5nVJC

    In this latest update, The Tech Herald will address the newest developments in Tunisia. The original story will start on page three. The first update can be found on page two.

    http://www.thetechherald.com/article...stors-Update-2
    we (As Tunisians) will ensure that won't happen. Yesterday new mayors were appointed and some of them are from RCD. Everything should be done for their withdrawall. It is far from being an easy task. We will stay awake and eradicate them because they dont even have an ideology. They are only "power"

  8. #8
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Where the 'Spring' started

    Much has happened in Tunisia since the last post, thirty months ago! So for updates try the BBC country profile:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14107241

    Today, AST was designated as a terrorist organization. AST being the salafi-jihadi organization Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia:http://thewasat.wordpress.com/2013/0...ia-in-tunisia/
    davidbfpo

  9. #9
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    Tunisia often slips out of sight, but last week a national assembly agreed on a constitution:
    Surrounded by the pressure of Islamists and civil activists, Tunisia’s deputies have managed to achieve something unique in the Arab world: making the parliament the centrepiece of political discourse and power. The failure of Egypt – as perverse as it might sound – was another factor that strongly contributed to Tunisian success.
    Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-aw...ian-parliament
    davidbfpo

  10. #10
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Almost a miracle

    A short Australian comment on the Tunisian success. Here is one passage:
    What's more, the higher Islamic values of justice, equality and freedom are adopted in the constitution.


    For instance, the state guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of conscience, an unprecedented principle in the Arab world. This is a profound break with tradition which makes religion a private matter; the crime of apostasy has no place. Also, several points of the constitution reinforce equality between men and women.
    Link:http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/post/...LCC=567588596&
    davidbfpo

  11. #11
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default Testing Islamists

    The actual NYT article by the late Anthony Shadid (who died in Syria) was entitled 'Islamists’ Ideas on Democracy and Faith Face Test in Tunisia' and was recommended to me by Londonstani:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/wo...y&st=cse&scp=1

    The setting of the test is Tunisia, which has largely slipped out of focus here in the UK.

    Citing Said Ferjani, who the BBC summed up as:
    who is a key figure in the Ennahda Movement - the moderate Islamist political party which dominates the democratically elected Tunisian government.
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...party_Tunisia/

    I can tell you one thing, we now have a golden opportunity and in this golden opportunity, I’m not interested in control. I’m interested in delivering the best charismatic system, a charismatic, democratic system. This is my dream.
    The author writes:
    Through Mr. Ferjani’s years in exile, the dominant image of political Islam was the bloody record of Egypt’s insurgency in the 1990s, the Algerian civil war and the ascent of Bin Laden, whose Manichaean view of the world mirrored the most vitriolic statements of the Bush administration.
    Not to overlook the roots of those cited and their party are in the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a separate thread:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...read.php?t=891
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 03-18-2012 at 04:19 PM.
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  12. #12
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default We opened our breasts against the bullets

    A photo has been given prominence here, I don't know if it has in the USA:
    Tourist staff describe how they formed human shield against gunman during attack on western tourists in Sousse
    Others confronted him, one dropped roof tiles on the gunman.
    Link:http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...rkers-witness?

    Moncef Myel, builder who threw roof tiles atgunman, flooring him, allowing police to catch up. "It was my duty as a Muslim"

    Sorry, the photo refuses to copy here; please check the cited article.

    Early comments here asked why the men did not tackle the lone gunman.

    Some of the news reports here have referred to ordinary citizen action, as Muslims and Tunisians:
    Hotel staff formed a line of protection around the hotel. They were prepared to take the bullets for us. You can't thank them enough
    Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33313022

    These actions are not unknown. They happened in Paris and long ago @ Luxor.
    Last edited by davidbfpo; 07-02-2015 at 07:29 AM. Reason: Was in a stand alone thread and merged to here.
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  13. #13
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    Default The Tunisian-Libyan Jihadi Connection

    A short ICSR Insight by a SME. The opening passage:
    It should have come as no surprise that Seifeddine Rezgui, the individual that attacked tourists in Sousse, Tunisia more than a week ago, had trained at a camp in Libya. The attack represented the continuation of a relationship between Tunisian and Libyan militants that, having intensified since 2011, goes back to the 1980s. The events in Sousse are a stark reminder of this relationship: a connection that is set to continue should The Islamic State (IS) choose to repeat attacks in Tunisia in the coming months.

    (Near the end)
    What we have seen already did not come out of nowhere; it has a history that stretches back decades and represents a problem too often ignored, taken lightly, or blamed on others by Tunisian officials prior to and after the 2011 revolution.
    Link:http://icsr.info/2015/07/icsr-insigh...di-connection/
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    Added as an update on the contest for power within Tunisia; it comes from a partisan viewpoint:https://www.opendemocracy.net/arab-a...utionary-youth

    According to an Interior Ministry press release on 5 December, from the declaration of the state of emergency on 24 November until 7 December 2015, 3000 raids were carried out, leading to 306 arrests and detentions. That makes an average of 200 raids and 20 arrests per day. From January until the end of November 2015 there were 2934 terrorism-related arrests. According to a statement by Raoudha Grafi, the president of the Magistrates’ Association, 1697 terrorism-related investigations were started in 2015.
    davidbfpo

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    Default Ouch

    An update via The Soufan Group's e-briefing and this attack's importance:
    Armed militants are suspected to have crossed into Tunisia from Libya on March 7, carrying out a series of coordinated attacks against Tunisian security forces in the eastern border town of Ben Gardane. The attacks targeted an army base, a national guard post, and a police station, leaving 53 dead—including 35 militants, 11 members of the security forces, and seven civilians.... the Tunisian government to construct a 125-mile wall along the border with Libya. However, based on the scale and coordination of the assault on security forces, the wall is hardly serving as a deterrent.
    Link:http://soufangroup.com/tsg-intelbrie...isia-strategy/

    Checking a map I now know where the IS "hot spot" town of Ben Gardane is, near the Libyan border:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gardane
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    A short (really 'compressed') 'summary' on Tunisian Air Force's ops vs local (and Algerian) extremists is meanwhile available as Tunisia Waged a Successful Air War Against Militants — And No One Noticed

    A very interesting 'reaction' by one of readers of this article appeared shortly later (apparently by what might be a 'disgusted Algerian', or at least sounds that way):

    This article describes a tension between Algeria and Tunisia that DOES NOT exist.

    Wondering what your sources may be. The Minister of Defense of Tunisia himself acknowledged publicly the shortcomings of Tunisia in the intelligence field, and as he put it “ without the help of Algeria with regards to Intelligence we would have been overwhelmed by the jihadi rebels”.

    Furthermore, the successes that this article describes are in part Algerian, or rather joint Tunisian/Algerian wins.

    Algeria and Tunisia have signed a joint agreement whereby Algeria agreed to assist Tunisia with its COIN campaign in the common border area.

    Algerian Helicopters have actively participated in COIN operations on Tunisian soil at the request of Tunisian authorities.

    Tunisia has a very courageous and tenacious military, but they are under-equipped whilst Algeria has one of the largest military in the Mediterranean, and was ranked #1 in Africa prior to Egypt’s recent acquisitions.

    Algeria is helping Tunisia in its COIN campaign, first out of solidarity as the two countries are very close allies, and second out of common interest.

    Algeria cannot afford, and will not allow terrorism to take hold in Tunisia.

    The security and stability of the two countries is intertwined, Algeria wants Tunisia to succeed in its COIN campaign and provides financial, military and intelligence support to the Tunisian authorities to that effect.

    Sorry, but the story involving the scrambling of an Algerian Su30MKA in response to Tunisian air raids in the Kasserine region is pure fantasy.

    Anyone with basic knowledge of these two countries and their security / defense apparatus would dismiss it as complete nonsense.
    This reader is partially right: I should have better emphasised the levels of military and security cooperation between the two countries - at least the levels that are meanwhile 'in powers'.

    That said, it is so that there were two periods of 'cooperation' between Algeria and Tunisia in regards of security situation in the latter country:

    1.) immediately following the revolution of 2011, when there was plenty of mutual suspicion (especially Algerians suspected that Tunisians would be supervised by specific Western powers), and

    2.) another, running ever since negotiations between two governments and establishment of direct links between two military commands, in March 2013.

    While there is little doubt that this cooperation directly contributed to the Tunisian success of 2013 (which is little surprise considering the wealth of intelligence and experience on Algerian side), it cannot be denied that it was a very unpleasant period - for both sides - and that there were tensions ‘well beyond’ the ‘usual suspicion’ at that time. What I mean with this is that some of my sources clearly say, Algerians were de-facto threatening to open fire.

    Good thing is: nothing of this kind happened, things were sorted out, and the cooperation is indeed, very good nowadays.

    Finally, I should add that even though certainly supporting Tunisians, Algerian authorities are kind of unable to confirm this officially. Reason is that they repeatedly criticised various of local media's 'exaggerations' about operations in question, and declared these for 'anti-drug-smuggler' operations.

    Now Algiers just can't correct itself...

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