Negative social mood and food inflation

Things are getting very serious across the Arab world. Riots stretch from Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen, after starting in Algeria.

Today, the President of Tunisia fled the country as riots quickly turned political.

Prime minister takes over as Ben Ali flees Tunisian turmoil

There have been riots elsewhere, such as the Chinese students that trashed their cafeteria, but these have not even spread, let alone morphed into political protests. In countries where the social mood is already negative, where the public is already dissatisfied with political leadership, there is great potential for food riots to become something more.

Here's a chart of the Tunisian stock market.