The Flight of Ben Ali

So much is happening so fast, and there's so much to talk about, and it's a holiday here in the US and I need some family time. Let me first note for you this report in Le Monde from yesterday, citing European sources on the flight of Ben Ali. If you read French, read the original; if you don't, here are some key points:

• Madame Ben Ali demanded gold ingots from the Bank of Tunisia; when that was refused she persuaded her husband to intervene, and left for Dubai with what a French source described as 1.5 tonnes (that would be metric tons) of gold, worth 45 million euros. She then joined her husband in Jidda.
  
• Ben Ali did not expect to leave so quickly and had recorded another speech. The Army stepped in and expedited his departure.
• Several European chanceries believe that the "Libyan security services" facilitated the "exfiltration" of Ben Ali from Tunisia. (I know "exfiltration" is now an English word, but now the French seem to be using it as well.) Qadhafi, by the way — the Guide of the Libyan Revolution — has made a speech lecturing the Tunisians on their folly in having a revolution, and urging them to bring Ben Ali back.
• There is confusion about how Ben Ali departed. He either left by plane for Maltese airspace, only then decided to head for France, where he was turned away, and may have refueled in Sardinia without receiving landing permission from Italy; or, he may have flown from Tunis to Malta in a helicopter, and joined his jet there.
• Ben Ali family members who did arrive in France (some reports say two other jets were involved) left subsequently for Doha.

I'll be posting more later. A lot is happening, in Tunis and in Lebanon, today.

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