So the Mubarak Gang are to be reunited again, but this time not in their regular state offices but in jail. They have been arrested pending questioning for at least 15 days as of 13th April. Mubarak hench-men kept the state secrets and family from harm, but in prison they won’t keep him secure. There are prison officers for that. Head of the embezzling entourage, t he fallen dictator seems to have dug his own grave. Quite literally, as shown above. Egypt’s Military council might have let him alone or ...

Arab First Ladies: A Blessing or a Curse for falling leaders: While Arab leaders fall will their wives be there to catch them? As protests spread like wildfire in the Middle East, the often opulent lives of Arab stately or royal wives are in the spotlight. Who’s footing the bill for the First Ladies expenses? Do they provide a false idealized image of their country, with their good works and initiatives in the arena of development and human rights, when on the ground their husband-led regimes are shunning their so-called ...

The Ottoman Empire, after centuries of rule has left indelible marks on Arab lands, leaving its imprint on art, language and food. But the legacy that shows itself most powerful is more cinematic and some could argue cultural: Soap Opera. At least 20 Turkish soaps have aired on Arab television, offering an escape from the hard daily realities of life. Three years ago, April 2008, and the one everyone was talking about was " Nur ". Today in many parts of the MBC-viewing-Arab world it's " Forbidden Lov e" (or ...

As Gaddafi's speeches and wild statements quieten down, Hala Musrati is now the self-appointed spokeswoman for the pro government national voice who carries the Gaddafi cause, generating quite a stir in the increasingly incredulous and bemused world audience. This Libyan State news anchor woman has had some airtime recently launching a pretty strong smear campaign on Libya's alleged rape-victim people heroine Iman al-Obeidi. As she defiantly emphasizes her propensity to truth and candour, she reminds of other far-fetched propoganda artists that the media exposes by showing us up-to-date information that ...

Similar to the the nature of Syrian politics, much known about but little spoken of, often cloaked in secrecy, the Assads, who have reigned supreme as ruling family for over half a century, like to do things hush-hush and on the down-low. Take the nature of the courtship and even marriage of the current President to wife Asma Akhras. Asma, at the time working for a bank in the UK, conducted her whole relationship with the number one family on the sly, as she surreptitiously stole time with Bashar before ...

What's the deal in Yemen? Yemen has a favourable climate for protests: widespread corruption and unemployment, a declining economy, rising living costs, and a nepotistic regime with an ageing president who rules over a young, frustrated and politically excluded majority. Elaborate networks of patronage and corruption that are tied in with Mr Saleh's regime are coming into open view. Why has this leader not followed in the path of Ben Ali of Tunis and Mubarak of Egypt? There are important differences in Yemen that challenge the emergence of a popular ...

Gaddafi Sex crimes A Libyan woman burst into the hotel housing the foreign press in Tripoli on Saturday morning in an attempt to tell journalists, particularly Reuters and the New York Times, that she had been raped and beaten by members of Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi militia. After struggling for nearly an hour to resist removal by Colonel Gaddafi security forces, she was dragged away from the hotel screaming. Some of the male foreign journalists on the scene tried to physically protect the woman. They are now being hailed as heroes ...

As the world remembers Elizabeth Taylor today, the Middle East mourns the passing of a first class world celebrity who graced our screens and media across the decades, first showing up on our screens as a child actress aged 10. She since came to be known for her legendary beauty and natural glamour that shined through her movies and attracted in many men. She was married 8 times, twice over to the same Richard Burton, rumoured to be considering a 9th. One of her husbands was a prince of Monaco ...

More murder and intrigue linked with the Mubarak's ousted regime is emerging in this time of post- regime settling of scores. It seems to be a free-for-all space of charges, recriminations and some serious accusations to an apparently very corrupt regime. Specifically, we see an interplay between some regular ingredients: women, money, celebrity, death, murder, and binding all together, the regime.

Music entertainers-Rock, R&B, pop, and rap: A mix of artists, all implicated by performances funded and hosted by the Gaddafis.Pop stars don't always decide who supports them (their fanbase), but sometimes they are expected to be selective in who they support in return. So performing for a despot or war criminal would not cut it my most expectations of role-model pop-star behavior. We could give them the benefit of the doubt for their unintentional connection to a despotic and now outright murderous regime. Often performances are set up by a ...