The Pigs That Run the Arab World

There isn't a region of the world run by a more miserable and vile bunch than the cursed region for the Arabs. Of course let me distinguish between the Arab people - kind-hearted, welcoming and decent - and their detested authoritarian rulers. It would be an affront to common decency to refer to Arab dictators as "leaders". They aren't fit to lead a swarm of pigs.

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At the top of the list are the Saudi royals. Corrupt, hedonistic, stealing billions in oil money while one-third of the population lives below the poverty line, and propagating a vile ideology of religious fanaticism and intolerance (Wahhabi). The kingdom does not even bother with the farce of political pluralism that other Arab dictators indulge in. But, alas for the Saudi people, they do not even have personal freedom. While a recent Wikileaks cable discusses parties hosted by Saudi princes where drugs, alcohol and sex lavishly spewed, the rest of the population suffer an a zealous "morality police" which grossly punishes not just consumption of intoxicants but also mere gathering unrelated males and females in a kingdom where women cannot drive and sex segregation is harshly enforced:

an American official in Saudi Arabia describes un-Islamic mores at a clandestine Halloween party, hosted by a royal prince. Alcohol and prostitutes abounded at the event, attended by 150-plus Saudis. The host’s status kept the fearsome religious police away. Such parties, the writer concluded, were increasingly typical in the kingdom.

And the Saudis, widely hated throughout the region, have bought up nearly all the Arab media to suppress dissent and criticism of their rule and of Wahhabi. An independent and left-wing Lebanese newspaper, al-Akhbar, is one of the sole examples of a free paper critical of the Saudis. And while the rest of the Arab media under Saudi control or influence has naturally avoided publication of Wikileaks embarrassing to the royal family, al-Akhbar has created a classification of Wikileaks releases on the Saudis and other Arab dictatorships. Today the site was the victim of a cyber attack (it blamed Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United States) and the attacker posted a note demanding the posting of a photo of the Saudi king on the front page (see below, H/T Arab Arab). There is no more vile regime.

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But other Arab regimes are not far behind:

A former American ambassador to Morocco is quoted as bemoaning “the appalling greed of those close to King Muhammad VI”. A company owned by the royal family, a private secretary and a political-party leader are all named in terms that would, in a journalistic context, risk a libel suit. The cables also depict Morocco’s military as riddled with corruption, “particularly at the highest levels”.

And, lastly, more personal beta noire the corrupt clan of Ben Ali, Leila Ben Ali, and her mafia family the Trebelsis:

Cables from Tunisia, another close American ally in the region, bluntly depict the regime of president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali as a sclerotic police state increasingly tarnished by nepotism. “Corruption in the inner circle is growing,” says one cable. “Tunisians intensely dislike, even hate, First Lady Leila Trabelsi and her family.” In a chatty account of a lavish dinner at the beachside villa of the president’s son-in-law, the American ambassador marvels at desserts flown in from St Tropez, the multitude of servants, and a pet tiger that ate four chickens a day. The host may be interested to know that while bragging about his clout he struck his guest as “demanding, vain and difficult”, with a limited knowledge of or interest in world affairs.

O' how I hate you Arab tyrants! May you die a thousand deaths and more!

Source: The Economist.