In a first, an Arab strongman was toppled by his people. Tunisia's longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali hightailed it out of his country earlier this week after thousands of Tunisians marched demanding his ouster. He had earlier said he would continue his term but promised to step down in 2014. It is surprising because Tunisia is a rather stable country and Ben Ali's reign was kind of benign compared to other Arab and Middle East dictators, but he was still a dictator, jailing and torturing human rights activists and limiting free speech. However it wasn't these issues but anger over unemployment and rising prices that directly sparked these protests. Still, there must have been a strong amount of frustration at the seemingly permanent reign of their dictatorial leader among much of society that fueled their dissatisfaction over economic problems.