Jan. 15 developments

(update, 14:02 ET)
• Tunisie actualite reporting that Mebazza will form an interim government post-haste. This on the heels of an increasing number of reports that the military is really calling the shots right now, with the civilians as a friendly face out front.
• Spotted on several FB profiles, a photo: "Non aux Islamistes non a l'integrisme non a rached el'Ghannouchi"... "No to the Islamist Fundamentalists, no to Ghannouchi." Get the message, American Spectator, National Review, et. al.? Jackwagons...
• The military is using social media; to what ends, I am not sure. A few of our friends have put out messages that the military is requesting people not to post videos of checkpoints and maneuvers, because it helps the gangs & former IM operatives avoid them and further loot. Obviously, this is a double-edged sword - would anyone have given Ben Ali the same benefit of the doubt 36 hours ago had he called for a moratorium on video posting? - but the fact that many are reposting tells us either that there's trust in the military, or there's so much fear of the roving gangs that they're willing to give them the benefit of the doubt right now.
• @AbuAardvark (Marc Lynch of FP) says no one he spoke to today mentioned Twitter, FB, or Wikileaks. It's all unemployment, corruption, and oppression. Again, this is where I was saying that HuffPo's guy was dramatically overstating things.
• Our guys say that TV7 ain't TV7 any more - new logos call it Tunisian National Television. I guess the whole 'November 7' mystique ain't what it used to be. (for those curious, read my Tunisian glossary to learn about "The Change")
• This is unconfirmed, saw it on only one friend's posting: Supposedly the military helicopters are warning people to stay inside after dark; they will open fire from the sky.

(update, 11:41 ET)
• This is more than a little cool - talk about a people who understand community and shared responsibility in a way we may have forgotten. Our friends report that communities are forming local committees of responsible people to defend public and private property. This is maybe one of the most important building blocks of civil society in a democracy - people creating informal institutions for the public good. Obviously, the hope is that a functioning government will provide security within a free society, and soon. But this is a really positive step, and something they can build from.

• Ghannouchi gave a wide-ranging interview to Al-Jazeera at 1 a.m. local time. Measured, calm, and promised openness in a number of ways. Said the Army was attempting to restore order. Other reports through the night show the importance of that, to wit...
• Armed gangs in trucks and vans looted through the night. Our people - and not just one or two, but nearly all of our friends - confirm that the former internal security forces are part of these gangs, and may even be centrally directing the violence. The battles taking place in Tunis, then, are something just short of a civil war between the remnants of the interior ministry and the Army. (update: Reuters confirms Army sources claiming looters directed by Ben Ali loyalists).
• Fires all over the city. FB videos show the Geant shopping center in flames. Central train station burned to the ground.
• Military moved armor units to Carthage to protect presidential palace. Supposedly Ben Ali-Trabelsi properties in Carthage and Sidi Bou Said have been ransacked.
• Carthage-Tunis Int'l Airport reopened; so is Tunisian airspace.
• Heads of Ben Ali's security detail have been arrested.
• Imed Trabelsi's death confirmed. Bel Hassan Trabelsi arrested. I'm gonna guess his prison stint won't go very well. Both are brothers of the Hairdresser.
• Our most reliable source says that the Army has been arresting former IM police in Tunis.
• Sky reports vaguely on prison fires. I am told one of these was in Monastir, and that no less than 50 prisoners burned to death in the prison.
• This morning, Ghannouchi passed power to Fouad Mbazza. That's what should have happened under the constitution in the first place. What we don't know is if Mbazza's authority will be respected - he's an old RCD hand like Ben Ali and Ghannouchi. Constitutional Council says elections will be held in 60 days.
• I'm just wondering: Why is it that EVERY SINGLE conservative-leaning news organization in the U.S. buys into the 'al-Qaeda will rule Tunisia' fallacy? Are they, perhaps, a bit partial to dictatorship and opposed to democracy?
• And, out of fairness and balance, HuffPo's claim that all of this happened primarily because of Wikileaks is silly. Sure, many Tunisians did get a chance to see the documents before Ammam 404 blocked them. But to say that Julian Assange is the father of Tunisian freedom is just stupid.