Tunisia 199

American Embassy Tunis on Facebook: an online space for American soft power?

After perusing the American Embassy Tunis Facebook page, the page welcome statement seems either a laughable euphemism or an endearing show of naïveté. The description is accurate to the extent that the the page accomplishes what it promises and what one would expect from an embassy Facebook page, for it serves as a cultural counterpart to the official Embassy of the United States Tunis website’s services and procedural information and news updates.

U.S. Discourse on Tunisia’s Transition : Economy, Security, and Prospects for “Assistance”

The show of US interest in Tunisia since the beginning of the revolution is significant, both in mainstream media and discourse as well as in US official investigations and reports. Whether docked at the capital port, or congratulating the prime minister, or releasing large sums of loan money into the economy, or advocating for a successful democratic transition, the United States has made it clear that it has a vision for Tunisia.

Credit Agencies: The arrogance of failure

First of all, the failure of the rating agencies before the subprime crisis is complete and total. That’s an undeniable fact and the huge effort that those agencies are making to restore their credibility will not, in any way, change that fact. And you should not listen to anyone who is telling you otherwise even if that person is Patrick Raleig.

Response from Standard & Poor’s to an article criticizing our methods

I am writing to set the record straight about an article you recently published about Standard & Poor’s sovereign ratings methodology, and particularly its application to Tunisia, entitled “Standard & Poor’s cuts Tunisia’s rating: limited methodology or bad intentions?”. The article contains numerous factual errors and repeats false allegations against us, several of which I list below.

Weekly Political Review: From Interior Vizier to Leader of the Pack

Less than a week after the resignation of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, Ennahda chose Ali Laarayedh to form a new mixed government of technocrats and politicians as the country deals with a major political crisis—the most crucial since the fall of the previous regime. A secret meeting of the Ennahda “Shura (Consultative) Council” convened on Thursday night to internally elect a new prime minister replacing Mr. Jebali who stepped down early last week after he failed to form an apolitical cabinet.

Can Police Torture be History in Tunisia?

The Tunisian Network for a Successful society (TUNESS) – www.tuness.org – has organized with the kind support of Columbia Society of International Law (CSIL) a round table discussion on the topic of police torture in Tunisia on Saturday December 1st, 2012 at Columbia University. Three distinguished guest speakers participated in this event.