Entertainment

Middle East bloggers discuss all things entertainment in the region.

 Mohannad Saaed

Comment on Why What Worked in Egypt, Will Not Trip Up Iran by Mohannad Saaed

I believe the most important difference is economical. Egypt received economical aid from the US and Libya and Iran do not receive aid from US. Also. we are not the only supper power any more. It is like we are a powerful man and do not have money any …

 Mark

Comment on Peninsula Journalism Attack Resonates Regionally by Mark

The issues raised in The Peninsula piece apply equally to the UAE with its much deeper media sector. It remains all to easy to enmesh a journalist for criminal libel with potentially devastating consequences Sadly no comments from ‘UAE commentators’ on that!

 Whither Censorship in Qatar? | Arabic Literature (in English)

Comment on Peninsula Journalism Attack Resonates Regionally by Whither Censorship in Qatar? | Arabic Literature (in English)

[…] UAE commentators Sultan al Qassemi and Mishaal Al Gergawi both tweeted their surprise at The Peninsula’s Saturday report on Qatar’s media, and others expressed the hope that […]

 Obaid Karki

Comment on Why Bahrain Trumps Dubai – Demographics by Obaid Karki

he is right about:
you might think that I’ve been drinking the same tea as Colonel Gadaffi

 Syed

Comment on The Reasons Why Saudi Arabia Will Not Fall by Syed

I pity the limited knowledge u people have about the Saudi…. Your knowledge is through media,,,think again ……Life here a million time better than anywhere in the world with crime rate as low as 2%…. In the name of modernization ppls minds have been polluted.. I live in Saudi thank GOD i do… May ALLAH bless King Abdullah with long and health life and ALLAH bless the Royal family AMEEN

 Joe P

Comment on Why What Worked in Egypt, Will Not Trip Up Iran by Joe P

One more reason to be suspicious of the success of “revolutions” in Arab lands is the character of these uprisings. All of them have just kicked out a single guy or family while the whole system of the previous regime remains intact. That is hardly a revolution. And neither it is looking good on democracy front. In Libya the protesters are waving the previous flag, of the Kingdom of Libya. Hardly any democracy there. Replacing an autocratic dictator with a dictator king.

 Joe P

Comment on Why What Worked in Egypt, Will Not Trip Up Iran by Joe P

It is a wonderful article but we have also to put in to context that US has been trying to overthrow Iranian government for the past 32 years. This and Iranians experience of operation Ajax means that any sympathy from nationalistic quarters in Iran must be with the government. Also I have to say that the most powerful force in a nation state is the power of nationalism and religion. Combine these two and you get a very powerful elixir which Iranians have unleashed. It is so powerful that it has stood up the history’s most super power for the past 32 years. Despite the large amount of propaganda going around against Iran in western media the truth is different. Almost all scientific polls conducted by western polling agencies and available on internet show that majority of Iranians support their current form of government and even favor being more powerful internationally to the point of even being ready to accept more international pressures in order to have nuclear bombs. That is the wishes of the people of Iran measured by independent western organizations. So Iranian state is very much comfortable with its position and just afew thousand opposition mostly propped up by 150 satellite channels bankrolled by US and beamed into Iran will not make Iranian state unstable. If anything it just makes their actions more justifiable for the majority of Iranians who support them.
One little fact which almost never gets mentioned is that the revolutionary government of Iran in the past decades had invested heavily in education and healthcare boosting its indicators tremendously. Today Iran has the world’s fastest growth rate in science and technology and according to some reports this progress in science and technology is due to Iran Iraq war which was itself due to the revolution. So out of true great revolutions come out also progress in science and technology, as was the case with French, Russian and Chinese revolutions. This does not happen in fake revolutions (read coups or color “revolutions”) like the one in Egypt.

 David

Comment on Title Irony: Why Journalists like to do PR on PRs by David

I think Alex may sort of have a point here. Journalists, and I claim to be one (but who does not nowadays!) are not letting the readers or viewers the chance to filter the information, to take on board it is a PR person who is speaking. We hide that information to give more credibility to the story.

That said, if it is a story about social media, for example, what matters most is the credentials in that space. It is perfectly legitimate therefore to ignore the PR bit and focus on a person’s blogger credentials. If it was a wider story on the IT industry where that person may have clients, then to hide the title would be misleading.

So I think the bit that is missing in the article is the context angle.

 @rupertbu

Comment on Title Irony: Why Journalists like to do PR on PRs by @rupertbu

As your job is manipulation, so is that of journalists/commentators!
Your, holier than thou, attitude is becoming very tiresome.

 Steve Royston

Comment on Politics, Meddling and Al Jazeera’s Independence by Steve Royston

So do I Misha, and especially their documentaries, which are often superb.

It’s also a rare pleasure to hear someone like Tariq Ali, whose writing I greatly admire. He has the gift of being able to speak in perfectly formed papragraphs – a comment once made about the erudite British politician, the late Enoch Powell, whose writing I’m afraid I didn’t admire.

It’s an ability you don’t often see on TV.

 Steve Royston

Comment on Politics, Meddling and Al Jazeera’s Independence by Steve Royston

Thanks David

One of the reasons I asked for feedback is that it’s hard to comment definitively on Aljazeera without speaking both English and Arabic. I’m not sure I would agree that the bias of the English channel is crass.

For sure, Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz are no more likely to appear regularly on Aljazeera than Tariq Ali on Fox News. Equally, you wouldn’t expect the Daily Mirror in the UK to be rooting for the far-right British National Party.

International viewers like me tend to flip from one channel to another to get their balance. We have a wide choice. But Arabic-speaking friends tell me that over the past month they have tended to look at only two Arabic channels for their coverage of Egypt, Tunisia et al – Aljazeera and Arabiya. That gives those channels much power – and responsibility.

 sondjata

Comment on A Symbol of Freedom – Libya’s New Flag? by sondjata

It is the Pan-Africanist flag given to us by Marcus Garvey.

 Editor, MEP

Comment on Saudi Student’s Arrest Will Have Unplanned Repercussions in the U.S. by Simone

A really good point… Living in the UK when the IRA used to plan terrorist campaigns across the country, everyone was very aware not to allow those campaigns to affect our thinking, how we lived our lives, or how our relations with others.

I remember very clearly for example, we never saw the problems as anything to do with Irish people. We always saw them as something to do with a small, misguided group of extremists. Of course, it helped we have always had huge populations of Irish people in the UK. Most of us have Irish blood somewhere!

Still it was always something that was clearly understood – don’t inflate what the IRA were doing with normal Irish people. That is something that the U.S. – and the rest of the world – should take on board with extremists from the likes of Saudi…

 Misha

Comment on Politics, Meddling and Al Jazeera’s Independence by Misha

A quote from your article: “The Qatar ruling family are not answerable to anybody” .

I know it has to be read within the context of the total paragraph but nevertheless the issue remains clouded until tested thoroughly and again. At the moment it just is not part of the public domain. My attitude?: I like Al Jazeera a lot and I like the way they have managed become so mainstream: enjoy it while it lasts.

 BARLEBAEN

Comment on The Strangest Questions Muslims Are Asked by BARLEBAEN

Hi,

Listen all the religions (Judaism, Christian, Islam) believe in slavery. I personally think that slavery is a very ungoddly thing to do. I believe in Abramham Lincoln. Now the question is…. does Abraham Lincoln transcend the Abrahamic God. Because if he does, than the Abrahamic God doesn’t exist. A person simply cannot transcend God. Unless of course… slavery is an act of God.

 David

Comment on Israeli Military to Cash in on Egyptian Revolution by David

Israel “…… its belligerent posturing towards first Iraq and now Iran in the east”.
What are you smoking? Last I heard it was Saddam who fired 43 Scuds at Tel Aviv and Israel stood still. Dinnerjacket is often heard wiping Israel off the map.
I fear you are lying Cook. I assume that is why you left the Guardian, even they could not print this nonsense.

 David

Comment on Politics, Meddling and Al Jazeera’s Independence by David

Was it not the Al Jazeera station chief in Beirut who is openly and virulently anti-Israel? As well as blatantly pro Hezzbollah? I recall the infamous birthday party hosted live on TV for a recently released terrorist.
Although I do not watch AJ, I do…

 @rupertbu

Comment on Dubai the Winner in a ‘Game’ of Regional Turmoil by @rupertbu

Personality is now the reason for an over-leveraged, and in this case over-hyped scenario!

Oh well good to see the lessons are not being faced up to, irrespective of positive PR speak, which at the end of the day just comes down to the oldest trade in the world. 🙂

 59steps Blog

Comment on Dubai the Winner in a ‘Game’ of Regional Turmoil by Bahrain and Dubai – a Personal Perspective « 59steps’s Blog

[…] a recent post to the excellent mideastposts.com, James Mullen argues that Bahrain’s loss is likely to be […]

 Editor, MEP

Comment on Logan Assault a Symptom of Mubarak’s Egypt by Simone

Ken, the day we have journalists and news organisations that put safety before getting reporters on the ground, is the day we are all screwed. Yes, be calculated in risks, but the world would never have known what happened in Tahrir square, or anywhere…