Tunisia is currently in political turmoil. Their government is on the brink of massive changes, as Prime Minister Hamadi Jabali resigned earlier this week in an effort to appease masses of discontented secularists. The move came after the murder of a secularist political leader, Chokri Belaid, and will quite possibly see the drafting of a new Constitution along with an overturn in those who are in power. Islamist rule appears to be headed for a surprisingly non-violent demise in Tunisia, but the state of relations are always difficult to predict in the Middle East and North Africa.
In Mali, French troops just pulled off a successful lightning strike on militant Islamists who had captured positions of power in important Malian cities. The issue here is that, while not all of Mali has been made safe, the French will be pulling out troops within the next weeks. While the offensive was surprisingly successful, the fear is that Malian troops may not be sufficient to keep the militant Islamists from seizing power, let anyone clearing them out of the south of Mali. France is most likely (appropriately) afraid of what befell the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, and does not want to be sucked into a drawn out process of nation-building.
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