Anthony Shadid said it well in today's NYT that the year 2011 may be the beginning of the end of an old Arab order. Citing election troubles in Egypt, the government collapse in Lebanon, riots in Algeria, the probable separation of the Sudan, and the street revolution of Tunisians, Shadid is right to talk about a paradigm shift. His most revealing paragraph of the article sums up things quite appropriately: "In the streets of the Tunisian summer getaway of Hammamet, in the seething quarters of Sadr City or in the claustrophobic neighborhoods of Beirut, hopelessly divided by the most primordial of religious and clan loyalties, Arab states looked exhausted, ossified and ideologically bankrupt, surviving merely to perpetuate themselves. Never has the divide between ruler and ruled seemed so yawning, and perhaps never has it been so dangerous." Indeed, we've reached the boiling point and that pressure cooker that was Arab societies can no longer hold the steam inside the pot. Governing with an iron hand, which often means cutting the head of your enemies, may have been effective once, but as Tunisians have shown it's not tenable in this day and age. This could really be the beginning of a significant sea change in the region and it may force other leaders (hopefully) to share power more. This is also a wake up call to Western governments who need to listen more to ordinary Arabs, take them seriously and stop hiding behind dictators who supposedly shield them from the Islamist peril. What transpired in Tunisia this week is a loud call for leadership accountability and a desire for a government by and for the people. The video below speaks volume about what Tunisians have accomplished this week and if things don't degenerate into a security mayhem, they should be commanded for the way in which they took matters in their own hands and for that they didn't need any outside help. This ecstatic Tunisian in the video is heard congratulating his fellow citizens on driving the president out of power. "Oh Tunisians: breathe freedom ," he said. "There is no more fear, no more fear. Ben Ali has escaped. The criminal has escaped."

As more information comes out about those extraordinary hours on Friday, it becomes even clearer just how despicable the president has handled this crisis. Apparently, and according to the latest from Le Monde, President Ben Ali's wife escaped to Saudi Arabia only after she retrieved 1.5 tons of gold from her bank valued at about $45 million. Pillaging the country even at the 11th hour after doing so for more than 23 years is nothing but nauseating. The euphoria of the guy on the YouTube video is quite understandable! I just hope that the transition to a real democracy will proceed smoothly.