Why is Tunisia important?

The question has been asked again and again - why should Americans care about Tunisia? After all, their main contribution to our culture was to serve as the shooting location for Tatooine in the Star Wars movies. The so-called Jasmine Revolution has been going on for days now, but still is not garnering much attention in the US press.

CNN has up a good explanation of why this is important, and why a revolution in this tiny nation could have far-reaching implications for the world.

It might be too soon to predict a populist revolution erupting throughout North Africa anytime soon following the example of Tunisia. But these recent social uprisings in a region of the world important to Europe and the United States should serve as a warning call that state stability achieved through intensified political oppression, economic marginalization and social injustice are certain guaranties of the kind of societal uncertainty from which future instability occurs without any guarantee of a democratic outcome.