Totten in Tunisia

Those of you who liked my Morocco blogging may want to check out Michael Totten on Tunisia. Here is his account of the Sahara. You can find his other travel posts by following the previous/next links at the top. I would, however, be cautious about making broad conclusions about Arab views of the U.S. from Arab hospitality, as Arabs generally distinguish between individuals and government policies much better than Americans do. I'm also not convinced he was asked to tea specifically because he was an American as opposed to a guest, despite what the Germans told him. The same thing would probably have happened had he been Russian, though American girls are especially a target of young males seeking a bit of action. Another possibility is that Americans were rare enough to be a subject of curiosity, as tourism in North Africa is overwhelmingly from Europe.