Ben Ali wins again

Ben Ali and wife - voting

The incumbent president of Tunisia, Ben Ali, got a ticket for another five-year term. The elderly statesman presides over a corrupt system run by himself, his close relatives and a loyal clique of cronies.

Again the election was rigged in Ben Alis favour. Any legitimacy that he could have claimed stemming from the 1987 coup d'état that deposed President Habib Bourguiba is long gone.

His grip to power is only possible thanks to the uber-present security apparatus, in particular to the feared General Directorate of Public Security. Ali's grip on the media and the economy should also be taken into account. No paragraph gets published without censorship approval. No deal is made without the presidential blessing, and obviously a cut for the Ali clan. But further to this, Ali´s power rests on a largely indifferent populace and absent intelligentsia,  for which daily human rights abuses seem to be of no consequence.

Maybe it is all for the best: Tunisia knows only dictatorship and Islam. If Ali's falls, what are the chances democracy will be on the menu?

The butcher of Bissau is no more

João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau has been shot, and hacked to death in Bissau.

A violent man, in a violent land, he had it coming for a long time.

Further to the many crimes against the people of his own country, he was responsible jointly with Luis Cabral for the mass execution of the African soldiers of the Portuguese Army that decided to remain in Guinea-Bissau following its independence from Portugal.

These thousands of victims were never vindicated by justice anywhere. Nino Vieira lived in Portugal for several years like an exiled king, spending the proceeds of his corrupt regime and supported by dodgy characters like Valentim Loureiro. Portuguese justice never attempted to go after him. Nino Vieira had too many friends in the two main parties, PS and PSD.

Nino Vieira, the butcher of Bissau

African soldiers of the Portuguese Army and General Spinola

Barack Hussein Obama II

So after all the effort from Bush Jr, he is replaced by a middle eastern looking chap by the name of Hussein... almost forgot, Hussein II!

Somebody must be laughing out loud in his tomb!

President Hussein's father, a Kenyan chap with the same name, converted from Roman Catholicism to Islam and took the name Hussein.

His father also made all his wives convert to Islam!

Beware Michelle, you may soon have to shop for a Hijab!

Beware USA!

Beware Western Civilization!

The Obamas - veiled Michelle Obama
Islamic dress at a mosque in Jakarta