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There's a fascinating story arising out of the ashes of the Tunisian revolution that's been taking place over the past few weeks. From the NY Times:

Moufida Tlatli, an internationally known Tunisian filmmaker, took her seat as culture minister. Two opposition leaders stepped aside to confer. The prime minister confided that he was still in touch with his old boss, who had not meant to flee the country but instead had hoped to return after a brief hiatus.

And then came the new government's first policy dispute: the held-over members of the old ruling party, known as the R.C.D., objected that the new minister of youth and sports, the dissident blogger Slim Amamou, was not wearing a tie.

"The first conflict with the old RCD-ists," Mr. Amamou, 33, messaged his 10,000 Twitter followers from the cabinet meeting, along with the rest of the fly-on-the-wall details reported above. And a few days later, at a second meeting, he tweeted: "I like the minister of Justice. I am going to wear a tie just to please him."

How cool is it to get the inside skinny from someone who's got the wherewithal to play the "fly-on-the-wall" role:

Mr. Amamou's running commentary on Twitter, the instant-messaging Web site, have provided an important if quirky source of information about the new administration’s plans and a singular narrative of the still-evolving revolution.

His news bulletins have included advance word that the prime minister would resign from his party, and that the education minister planned to reopen the schools. After four new ministers resigned Tuesday in protest of the continued role of the R.C.D., the French initials for the Constitutional Democratic Rally, Mr. Amamou wrote that the government planned to seek their return instead of replacing them.

"I am in the government to have first hand info," he posted on Twitter recently. "Very important in our current info war. I am not here to build a career :)."

And then this:

"It is similar to an underground artist who signs with a major label and is criticized by the purists and the masses," he wrote on Jan. 17.

He posts mostly in French with some English and Arabic, his messages bent by Twitter's maximum 140-character limit into a language of shorthand, abbreviations and emoticons.

Before his arrest, he posted about his efforts to evade Tunisia's pervasive online censorship and the secret police.

"I am at a friend's house," he posted on Jan. 6. "The police are apparently looking for me."

His account went silent a few moments later. The police apparently found him.

But he wasn't kept down for long!

He was taken to the Interior Ministry's prison, where he said he was pressured to turn over passwords and other information about the online resistance. He was reportedly told that screams heard through a wall came from family members under torture. "I was not physically tortured," he wrote, "psychologically, yes."

Then, in Mr. Ben Ali's final days, the president began to release political prisoners in a bid to placate the mounting unrest. "I am free," Mr. Amamou posted on Jan. 13.

Mr. Ben Ali fled the next day. "I am surprised," Mr. Amamou wrote. "I can't really find words."

He wrote that he feared the militia loyal to Mr. Ben Ali and had sought protection of the military. Then, four days after his release from prison, offering no explanation of how it transpired: "I became minister of youth and sports." Soon after, he added: "I will try to convince the other members of the cabinet to become Twitter members."

It all sounds a little goofy, if not for all the violence taking place (including the incidences of immolation that have taken place):

Early last week, he wrote that he needed to ask directions to find his ministry building. On Saturday morning, he wrote: "I will try to go to my ministry to work. I wish there will be demonstrations again."

There were. Hundreds again demonstrated to demand the full eradication from government of members of the old ruling party.

In asides, Mr. Amamou, too, has marveled at the pace of the changes sweeping him from prison to the cabinet.

Not long after his appointment, he posted about a yogurt he just bought, noting that it would expire in less time than the four weeks it took to carry out the revolution.

Let's hope he continues with these great tweets:

"The most rapid revolution in history," he wrote. "Because we are connected. Synchronized."

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