Political cartoon - from an Arab Newspaper

This is a very telling cartoon: no matter how unhappy Arab people are, their 'official' government-controlled media paint a happy picture. I am not sure whom the media are trying to kid. It is unlikely any one will believe them anyway except their own dictators, if they care to pay attention to their own mouthpiece media outlets - the media that tells them exactly what they want to here.

But the sad story does not stop there. This very cartoon is a symptom of the same disease it is criticizing. .

The words in Arabic script read 'Hamas' on the painter's shirt, and 'Gaza' on the shirt of the unhappy broken arm 'model'. And while very few will dispute the validity of the statement made by the cartoon regarding Gaza, the cartoon is published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (Arabic for: The Middle East), which is published in London under Saudi auspices.

That London based newspaper is also the mouthpiece of the Saudi government, and would not publish any criticism of the Saudi government or of other Arab governments. But since Hamas has no reach outside the few square miles that make the Gaza strip, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat has the 'guts' to criticize them.

Knowing that makes me, sadly, feel that the cartoon is a little 'funnier' than it really is.

Khaled

Other post with cartoons about the middle east can also be checked here:

• The Middle East: A place with a lot of laughs, very bitter laughs