There’s so much “news” these days (read geopolitical “olds”) that I’m resorting to only posting stuff that seems different, or at least offers some kind of twist that I hadn’t thought of before. How’s this one: Tunisia, being marketed by its new president, as a “democracy startup” — in a seamless fusion of money and politics — at the very beginning of democracy, rather than at the very end, like here in the U.S. this week, when the Supremes drove the final nail in the coffin via the McCutcheon decision.

In Tunisia,

“While those in power have changed, the economic dictator has remained constant. The IMF and World Bank have continued to manage the economy of Tunisia, despite the influence of Russia, China, and the Gulf States in North Africa. Today, Mehdi Jomaa will meet with Obama and discuss the “democratic transition” and make his pitch for the new startup. It won’t be a hard sell. There’s a skilled and well-educated workforce, debts to be repaid and a sympathetic government in place.

Henda Chennaoui said, “Mehdi Jomaa doesn’t represent me. He doesn’t represent anyone in Tunisia. To give power to the people, that’s the only democracy. We expressed this on January 14.”

Tunisia: “Democracy Start-Up”?