The ruins of Carthage

In 146 BCE Carthage, close to the site of modern-day Tunis, fell to the Romans.  In January AD 2011 popular discontent has led directly to the fall of the Tunisian President.  I am pleased to note that the French, who controlled Tunisia as a colonial protectorate from 1883 until 1956 (year of my birth, my goodness), apparently declined a request that President Ben Ali be allowed to enjoy his exile in France.  And a luxurious exile it will be thanks to the squiliions his family have undoubtedly siphoned from state coffers and then squirreled away in  secret Swiss bank accounts. But two questions remain.  First, why do so many of the world's most odious political leaders and their cronies end up living out their exiles in Saudi Arabia?  Idi Amin, for example.  Now Ben Ali.  Secondly, why do the Swiss banking authorities allow these people to retain their ill-gotten gains, rather than returning them wholesale to the countries concerned?  Is it beyond the wit of an international court to deprive these despots of the money and other material possessions they have clearly stolen?  International criminals can now be more easily stripped of their illegally acquired assets, it happens to the leaders of drug cartels all of the time, so why not individuals like Ben Ali? 


I was tempted to use an extended metaphor about a newly reborn Tunisian democracy arising Phoenix-like from the ashes of the Ben Ali despotism, but I resisted that temptation and decided to end with a nice photo of Ancient Carthaginian ruins instead.