Links 19 January 2011

I am thinking of discontinuing the daily links feature, but here are a bunch from yesterday.

• Esam Al-Amin: The Fall of the West's Little Dictator
  Esam al-Amin onn Ben Ali's close relationship with the West.
• A new government in Tunisia: Out with the old? | The Economist
  A wrap-up of the situation for the new Tunisian government.
• Put This On: LBJ Buys Pants on Vimeo
  Recording of Lyndon Johnson ordering pants with extra room "between my nuts and my bunghole." Surreal.
• Right Turn - Exclusive: Ex-Polisario Front police chief tells his story
  WaPo neocon J. Rubin continues her Polisario-bashing, interviews Mustafa Salma Sidi Ould Mouloud.
• The Canadian Press: Arab League chief says Tunisia is warning to Arab leaders that their people's 'soul is broken'
  Amr Moussa: "The Arab soul is broken"
• Building a police state in Palestine
  How Western security collaboration is building another security state in Palestine.
• The brutal truth about Tunisia - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent
  Fisk thinks the West will block any further uprisings in the region.
• New Left Project | NLP Blog
  Notes on a talk on Tunisia by George Joffe, focused on "liberal autocracy" and more.
• LENIN'S TOMB: Note on Tunisia's military
  A Marxist analysis of the role of Tunisia's military.
• Egypt is not Tunisia | Al-Masry Al-Youm: Today's News from Egypt
  Amr Chobaki thinks Egypt is in too bad a state to reproduce what happened in Tunisia.
• Exclusif : Comment Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a été débarqué
  Fascinating account of Ben Ali's last hours in Tunisia. [French]
• Arab Reform Bulletin - Libya: Cracks in the Qadhafi Foundation
  How reform within the system in Libya is one the decline. Not surprised since it was entirely based on Saif.
• Arab Reform Bulletin | What Tunisia Proved—and Disproved—about Political Change in the Arab World
  Michele Dunne on Tunisia's lessons for the Arab world, and the importance of demographics.
• The Roots of Egypt’s Muslim-Christian Tensions | The Middle East Channel
  Michael Hanna, a fine piece on sectarianism in Egypt and the regime's responsibility.
• Lebanon Crisis Shows Shift of Influence in Mideast - NYTimes.com
  Shadid on the post-American Middle East as seen from Lebanon.
• Algeria's national 'protesta' | The Middle East Channel
  Hugh Roberts on the protests in Algeria.