(By the way, if you want to read more on the issue of fiat money vs. real money, try websites such as the Mises Institute or Lew Rockwell.)

Let’s see how Middle Eastern caricaturists look at this issue.

The way that most people undergo the financial crisis first is either by losing their jobs or seeing their income shrink. This is what this cartoon here (Al-Watan, Feb 4th) wants to tell us: The dude (and his income) is slipping off a word probably meaning “dakhl – income”.

In small letters it reads “the markets”. Especially the tiny Gulf states rely heavily upon specialized financial markets, be it oil or the stock market.

* * *

If these markets get hit, the Gulf states might face hard challenges. The following cartoon (Al-Watan, Feb 24th) depicts the industrial sector leaving Dubai for the mighty Saudi kingdom. It is entitled “The migration of factories” and the street sign reads “Saudi Arabia”.

* * *

But also the man in the street suffers. This cartoon (Al-Quds al-Arabi, Feb 11th) depicts the ordinary man as being tied up and sitting beneath a huge rock. Look at the rope, it can get torn at any moment. On the rock there is written: “Global financial crisis”. Let’s hope the neat guy at the right doesn’t get his suit dirty.

* * *

And global it is, our financial crisis, as Turkey’s Zaman shows in this cartoon (Zaman, Feb 23rd). The Chinese dragon gets hit by an American economy that drops like a brick. No chance to dodge this deadly arrow:

* * *

For Arabs, as for many people around the world, the way to financial success and freedom has become quite bumpy, as shows the following cartoon (Al-Watan, Feb 6th), entitled “Vibration in a narrow scope”:

Yeah, this one can make you laugh. By the way, do you notice that the line at the very right shows up again? Seems we got an optimist here.

* * *

Most people, however, would rather choose this cartoon (Al-Watan, Feb 16th) to depict what really hurts about all this global financial crisis thingy. Money’s gone!

The purse, the credit cards, the cash, everything pronged by an arrow.

* * *

And the markets? It seems that the rally is over. Remember how back in 2004 and 2005 stocks markets such as Oman, Egypt, Tunisia or Kuweit would hit the sky? Well, sky is truly the limit. Nothing grows into space. Of course you can also express it in a more, er, spiritual way. “The djinn of the profits” reads the title of this caricature (Al-Watan, Feb 17th). Do I see a raised forefinger here?

Well, greed and fear is what moves the markets, isn’t it?

To be continued…

Despite being a frequently visited tourist country, Egypt has been a target for Islamist terrorists for decades. The first Salafi group, the Muslim brothers, was founded in Egypt. That was back in 1928. When Egyptian presidents Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak followed a non-religious way of politics, Islamists were quick to declare war on them. Especially in the southern part of the country, terrorists were quite successful in cutting off government influence off villages and small towns. No wonder current president Hosni Mubarak makes no bones about Islamists.

Egypt’s Al-Ahram, however, presents this caricature (Feb 24th), entitled “The return of the black cloud”:

The black cloud carries the word “irhab – terror” in it. Beneath it the chap utters: “It fades!” It seems that many Egyptians do not take terrorism seriously. At least according to this caricaturist.

If it comes to hygiene, Middle Eastern restaurants cannot always stand the test. Shwarma or döner, as the Turkish version is called, in general is very tasty, but you have to watch out if the restaurant is clean. If so, then go ahead and enjoy your food.

The spectator in the Arab world is torn apart between the two largest Arab news channels, Al-Jazeera (right) and Al-Arabiya (left).

* * *

All around the world, huge news channels often get criticized for not displaying the whole truth. Each side considers itself to be mis- or underrepresented. To be honest, there is some truth in that. Unless your name is Barack Obama, you probably didn’t have the chance to be on air over the last three months.

One of the few topics that despite the hype around Obama still made it into the news, however, was the war in Gaza. It is thus nonsense to claim that TV news channels didn’t show the whole truth, as is claimed in this cartoon (Al-Jazeera, Feb 11th):

The cartoonist (who is audacious enough to publish his cartoon on Al-Jazeera) claims that you’d never see any pictures of dead or wounded Palestinians on TV while the Israelis soldiers were represented as the good guys. How impudent is that? In fact the TV, the newspapers and the internet drowned in pictures of dead, wounded, dying people (usually Palestinians). It was an awkward and an impious way to use the agony of other people to distinguish yourself. Don’t tell you don’t agree with me, dear cartoonist, if only deep inside.

* * *

One day later, on Feb 12th, Egypt’s Al-Ahram takes the same line:

The blitheful chap on the screen is telling us: “Hey, you guys at the TV screen, there ain’t no rubbish around as some malicious people keep repeating.”

* * *

Asharq al-Awsat tells the same story, but with a different stress (Feb 10th):

Directly above the Arab’s head, it reads: “The truth”. While the caption outside the TV reads: “Natural errors”.

* * *

This cartoon (Al-Jazeera, Feb 10th) directly addresses the Western media. According to the caricature, the BBC turns a blind eye on the victims of the Gaza war. Or, as it is depicted in a smart way, BBC acts like closed box or – am I allowed to interpret it this way? – even as a castle that is too snobbish to let in the truth:

To sum it up, all these political cartoons are trying to tell us that on TV you allegedly never see the truth, e.g. the victims of the war in Gaza. Well, don’t you agree that this is simply not true?

And with beauties it deals. Please keep in mind that you have to read it from right to left! This means that the beautiful girl represents the type of Egyptian female of the past, while the ugly virago on the left stands for the modern madame of the Nile.

To be honest, this is no joke. In the past, until deep into the 20th century, even the peasants in Egypt would leave their women unveiled. It all changed with the emergence of Salafi Islam (also known as Islamism) and the growing influence from Saudi Arabia, beginning in the 1970′s. Except for the luxurious upper class and sometimes for the middle class, it is nowadays hard to find a Muslim female Egyptian without a veil. The lower class and of course religious smart-asses of all backgrounds have fully adopted the Islamic doctrine of hiding women under woven fabric. If you agree with this, then answer us this question: If displaying your hair is Satanic, why did HE fail to create women with a natural veil? Imagine this – a piece of skin like a huge eyelid to cover your hair. Flirting on a totally new level…

However, it is great to find such a rare masterpiece of self-criticism in Al-Ahram. We want more of that, don’t we?

Already a few days ago you wouldn’t have had to be a soothsayer to predict that the elections would be connected to the war in Gaza. It seems that some caricaturists still have a bone to pick with the Israelis. In general, the elections are depicted as a threat towards any peace in the Middle East.

Like in this one here (Asharq al-Awsat, Feb 11th), entitled “Far right”:

On the big car it reads “elections” and you can see an Israeli flag on it. Recklessly it bumps the small car off the road and down the canyon. On the small car it reads “Peace missions”.

* * *

Here too you can clearly see the connection between the war in Gaza and the elections. The votes are thrown off a warplane into the ballot box, which has written “Israeli elections” on it and is enthroned on the ruins of Gaza.

Al-Hayat, Feb 10th.

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This cartoon (Al-Quds al-Arabi, Feb 11th) shows the elections as the erection of a wall, clearly a sign of the wall between Israel and the Gaza strip.

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While two days earlier, the same newspaper depicted the “Israeli elections”, as it is written upon the guillotine, as the ultimate execution of peace.

Al-Quds al-Arabi, Feb 9th.

Doesn’t look too optimistic, does it?

The different Palestinian groups are arm-wrestling with each other, while in the meantime a loony looking Israeli soldier uses their hands as a tripod for his assault rifle. Take a guess who he supposedly is firing at …

The chap with the many faces and the many hands represents the Middle East. Accurate! (Asharq al-Awsat, Feb 5th).

But Jews are considered to be the only real Christians, as someone has put it lately: Everyone expects them to suffer and to never shoot back. True, you might debate whether all military actions by Israel were justified, but the war against Hamas itself clearly was. Even if Al-Hayat doesn’t think so (Feb 1st):

It starts quite neat with this one here (Al-Ahram, Jan 20th), in which the average Arab spectator is shown as torn apart between the two giant Arab TV news channels, Al-Jazeera (right) and Al-Arabiya (left).

* * *

While this cartoon (Al-Ahram, Jan 24th) is already of a different kind.

You might consider the snake either a venomous reptile or a terrorizing lindworm, in all cases it carries a huge Star of David on its body. The beast tries to swallow its prey but is unaware that in fact it’s a bomb which will blow up the snake. Since Israel (if not all Jews) is depicted as a poisonous reptile, it’s probably not wrong to call it antisemitic. But at least the drawer turned his own racist cartoon into a farce since he entitled the bomb as “Gaza resistance”. Well, if he depicts hiding behind children – what Hamas fighters did – as a bomb, who knows what he he had drawn, had Hamas really fought.

* * *

One day later (Jan 25th) Al-Ahram presents this political cartoon:

The title reads: “The European concept of a blossoming and civilized democracy”. The murderous Israelis (according to Al-Ahram) are considered by the Europeans as victims, whereas women and children are called “killers”. Well, they are not. In Europe we have – besides a lot of antisemites – also many intelligent people who do not call innocent people killers. But we do call Hamas fighters murderers. And so the question remains: Why are they never depicted in any cartoons?

* * *

Neither funny is this one here from Al-Quds al-Arabi (Jan 23rd):

The helpless Palestinian torn apart between his Arab brothers with their different opinions – while being tortured by the Israelis.

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If you ask for the reason why so many people in the Middle East – to say the least – dislike Israel, they will probably respond something that is similar to this cartoon (Al-Quds al-Arabi, Feb 2nd):

The Palestinians have no other option yada yada yada. Well, what about living a peaceful, productive life instead of joining militant groups such as Fatah, Hamas or Hizbollah and figuring out how to murder as many Israeli civilians as possible? It cannot be repeated often enough that most Palestians do not agree with these terror groups. Most Palestinians would love to find a compromise with Israel and then finally start a new life with a job, a family and some personal luxuries.

Instead it is not only terror groups or political demagogues who fuel the hatred against Israel but caricaturists as well.

* * *

Al-Ahram, Jan 25th:

and the same newspaper on Jan 28th:

Beneath both, er, “caricatures”, it reads “No comment”. How true is that!