More Desperate Dictator Housewives - Episode 5 - Is Leila's Brother on the run in Canada?

Belhassen Trabelsi: 'What's this all aboot, eh?'

The saga continues. The last time I left you, the Ben Ali family had fled Tunisia Lane with Leila having pocketed 1.5 tonnes of gold in the process. In today's episode, Leila Ben Ali's brother, stud muffin Belhassen is reported to be with his family hauled up in a ritzy hotel in Quebec, Canada. Well, at least they can speak French. As the BBC reports, Canada has revoked Mr Trabelsi's residency permit and has moved to seize the billionaire's Canadian assets. So when did he get Canadian residency then?

Mr Trabelsi and his family reportedly arrived in Montreal on a private jet last week after Mr Ben Ali was ousted. Officials at the Tunisian embassy in Ottawa have asked Canada to arrest and extradite Mr Trabelsi. The Canadian government have made it quite clear and very public through the media that they will comply with this request from Tunisia Lane.

It is believed Mr Trabelsi and his family fled the Chateau Vaudreuil Suites Hotel (the dump pictured above) in Montreal on Thursday, and their whereabouts remain unknown. He and his family could very well be doing a 'Thelma and Louise' type rampage through the backwoods of Quebec for all we know, so here's a picture of the guy just in case you've seen him.
By the way, he, the former president and other close relatives of his are now wanted by Interpol. So Saudi Arabia... will you follow through?

All this has answered some and posed new questions. First of all, despite the rumours Yasser Arafat's widow Suha is definitely not married to Belhassen. Second, how come and for how long has Belhassen had Canadian residency? The bigger question though is how come only NOW that the Ben Alis are now being called to question by international justice for their crimes? They have been plundering Tunisia for 23 years but until recently, namely when WikiLeaks released secret US State Department cables just over a month ago detailing the corrupt practices of the ruling Ben Ali and Trabelsi families did many people beyond the Arab World became aware of their excesses. Now that they have been toppled, the World is feeling mighty proud of itself that it is chasing these people for their crimes. But where was the West before? These crimes have been going on for decades but only now, after they've been kicked in the teeth by the Tunisian population is the West doing anything about it. I mean, Canada had even gave Belhassen residency! The likes of the Ben Alis and the Trabelsis have been able to get away with robbing Tunisia and its people of its wealth, prosperity and opportunity thanks mainly to the West's support and ignorance. This is a fact not lost on the Arab World and in other parts of the world where many of the desperate dictators and their housewives rule. No wonder the USA is worried about what is happening in Egypt... thanks to the work of their embassy staff, as evidenced from WikiLeaks, the USA and the West is aware of the consequences their bad and hypocritical support of dictatorships will have. And to take the disgusting level even lower, thanks yet again to WikiLeaks, we know that the West has been fully aware of the level of crimes being committed by dictatorial cliques such as the one formerly ruling Tunisia. Still, the West supported (and still supports) them just like they have Egypt, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan... the list goes on. Retribution will be meeked not just on the corrupt rulers but also on the signs of power that kept whole populations living in repression and poverty. That means the West, especially the US government will have to face the music too, and believe me, it won't be pretty.

As always, stay tuned for more developments...

More Desperate Dictator Housewives - Episode 4 - Did Leila take the gold?

Suha Arafat must be loving this! As Tunisia descends into chaos, so too do the wild rumours and gossip about the Ben Alis. Zine Ben Ali, former Tunisian dictator took off with wife Leila and 'family' to exile in Saudi Arabia (hey, well Uganda's Idi Amin eventually sought refuge there.... after Libya kicked him out). But just in case you haven't heard, the Paris daily Le Monde had a story the other day claiming that Leila Ben Ali had personally turned up to Tunisia's central bank to pick up 1.5 tonnes of gold just prior to them leaving the country. According to French security sources, Leila's trip to the bank happened in December, when unrest against her husband's rule started in Tunisia. The bank's governor apparently refused her demand and asked for a written request for the gold, said to be worth 45 million euros. The president initially refused to make such an order before giving in to his wife. Leila then left Tunisia before returning to the country, and that the gold bars were reportedly taken to Switzerland.

OK, so did this really happen? Well, doubts crossed my mind when I heard variations of this story, whereby Leila turned up to the bank one day, told to get lost, she went running to hubby crying, she must have threatened that she won't dye his hair jet black anymore because he then gave the order for the gold to be handed over, and furnished with writ, she turned up at the bank again and personally took the gold.... right. Le Monde also reported that the gold did not go to Switzerland but was on the private jet with the Ben Alis on their way to Saudi Arabia via Dubai. The plane though was rumoured to be going to France first, but Sarkozy had a change of mind and forced the plane to land in Sardinia (directly north of Tunisia) where it 'refuelled'. This gave time for the French to work out how to handle the Ben Alis, resulting in them being banned entry in France. Of course, Nesrine, Zine and Leila Ben Ali's daughter - the one who is married to that 28 year old guy who owns everything, and huge entourage were also at some plush hotel at Disneyland Paris just now. One report I saw has them already out of France and in Saudi Arabia... but other reports are saying that Nesrine and entourage are still there at the expensive Castle Rooms. Go figure!?

My issue with the gold story is that not even Leila and her superhuman belief in herself would be able to just carry 1.5 tonnes of gold away in her Prada handbag - that would take a lot of strength to achieve, and something that would not go unnoticed. So I am tending to believe the Tunisian Central Bank's denials of this gold incident ever happening. Besides, why would Leila want 45 million euros worth of gold now anyway. She and her family definitely have much more stolen wealth than that whittled away anyway for them to live quite comfortably and trashily happy ever after.

Nevertheless, what I, as well as millions of Tunisians, would like to see is corruption charges being laid on the Ben Alis. If Julian Assange can be placed on the Interpol most wanted list without even being charged with any crime and face judicial proceedings in such efficiency, then surely an arrest warrant and likewise swift procedures can also be applied in this case with the Ben Alis? I mean, what's the bigger crime here? Let's see what this world is really made of, especially in its priorities when it comes to crime.

More Desperate Dictator's Housewives - Episode 3 of Tunisia's Leila Ben Ali

THEY'RE GONE!!!!

I can't believe it... Zine Ben Ali is no longer president of Tunisia. He has been toppled from power. Well done Tunisia! Let's hope this is a start of a new and transparent Tunisia.

So what's going to happen to Leila Ben Ali and the Trabelsi clan now???? Stay tuned!

More Desperate Dictator Housewives - Episode 2 of Tunisia's Leila Ben Ali - Could 2014 be her year?

Tunisian President Zine Ben Ali (right) with presidential baton. Who will he pass it on to? His wife Leila (left) says 'pass it to me, douchebag'!

Last time I left you in Tunisia Lane, the ambitious Leila Ben Ali, missus to Tunisia's president for almost a quarter of a century, Zine Ben Ali, had been subject to much gossip and scandal by the US embassy, involving Leila, her family and Mrs Palestine Suha Arafat. Well, since then Tunisia has erupted. The people have demonstrated against the endemic corruption, mass unemployment and the bleak future ahead of them if the Ben Alis continue with their reign. Of course, in the benevolent way that they are, the Ben Alis responded first with bullets (60 people have died... but 6 people shot dead in Arizona have had more coverage) and now with a series of rather cosmetic appeasers. First, Ben Ali announced an inquiry into weeding out corruption, which has to be a joke. If he really needs overpaid public officials to tell him where the corruption is, then he really is senile. He could try looking at all of the people around him for starters. How's about that 28 year old son-in-law that has the cruise line and hotels and everything else? Or the darling wife?

But Zine Ben Ali has now said another joke - he won't be recontesting the top spot come presidential elections in 2014. Stand-up must be his thing. Oh well, it was to be expected as then he will be 79 years (and still with jet black hair) by that time, so he would have been on the way out anyway by then. Big question now is who is he going to groom as his successor? I mean, he's not gonna let go to chance. If anything, these demos, lightly described as 'violent clashes' (more like 'massacres', but hey, the West still supports Ben Ali... had 60 been killed in Venezuela though...) show that the 90% support Ben Ali supposedly received at the last 'election' was a joke. So his cronies have known that they need to keep the system going or else they will be quickly shown out. Naturally, that ever-so-successful son-in-law looks like a possible. Keeping it in the family is all the rage these days in these types of systems. North Korea did it (and they're going for round 3 now too!), so did Syria (and they even lowered the minimum age in becoming prez there from 40 to 34... wow, what a coincidence that it matched the exact same age as the late president's son's age), Egypt is heading that way, Azerbaijan did it, and not to be outdone, remember the Bush family in the US?

Move over Alexis Colby, here is Leila Ben Ali, complete shoulder pads, come to take control of Denver Carrington.. erm... Tunisia. 'I shall fire you all on the spot and replace with you with a board who will approve the merger'

But there is someone far more experienced and more cunning who sees that it would be foolish not for to be as le supreme... well, la supreme - Leila Ben Ali herself. I mean, she's been running the country for her benefit most of these years. And she sees no unemployment problem - all her relatives are employed so she's satisfied. So far, she's been keeping quiet, but she has to be up to something. I wonder what Suha in Malta is thinking now? Perhaps how karma is a mean bitch.

Stay tuned... we definitely have not seen the last of this soap opera, otherwise known as the misery that the long suffering Tunisians have had to endure for decades.