The Collector's Guide to Fine Arabic Propaganda

I thought it quite amusing that each Arab 'leader' has songs that extol the virtues of their wise rule, their glorious achievements, their outstanding bravery and their steadfastness and courage in the face of their nation's enemies. It is all really quite repulsive and nausea inducing.

The first is from my beloved Syria. The entire country loves the president. So much so that this singer whole heartedly and of his own volition released this song as a sign of his gratitude and love for the eternal leader of the Arab revolution.

Second is from the wonderful land of Saudi Arabia. The current King Abdullah is so beloved of his people, so benevolent, so wise. He is a bastion of stability against the evil Shi'ite hoards that threaten to overwhelm the holiest of holy countries, Saudi Arabia. He doesn't seem to mind the United States or Israel though.

Next is the cousin of the al Saud's, the al Khalifah family. They aren't really Bahraini as their family moved there a long time ago and took over, but that doesn't really matter. They own the island now, and everybody on it. You got a problem with that? They'll just bring in a few thousand Saudi soldiers and tanks and run over anybody they don't like.

We won't forget Ali Abdallah Saleh, the immortal leader of Yemen, uniter of the Yemen's, scourge of al Qaeda, moderniser of the nation. I didn't think somebody would have done a song for this guy, but it's out there. Enjoy.

This one is quite funky, it's for the King of Jordan, Abdullah the Second. His family used to own the Arabian peninsula before the Saudis came in and called it Saudi Arabia. Instead he ended up with a patch of dirt with no water, no natural resources and no money. But his people think he's great and I guess that's all that matters. He wears a lot of medals when in uniform and I don't know what they're for. Last time I checked Jordan never won any wars. Maybe he puts them on because they look pretty.

Finally, this one was kind of hard to find, especially since the guy in question is now so much of a joke and the Zenga Zenga song has dominated YouTube. Yes, we are talking about the King of Kings, Lord of Africa, Leader of the Glorious Revolution, Founder of the Islamic Jamahirriyah of Libya, Barack Obama's Father, the one, the only, Colonel Mu'ammar al Gaddafi. This song was for his son Khamis, but the illustrious leader is the main inspiration for the song, as you will see.

One late entry thanks to my dear friend Seleucid. Egypt's Mubarak has a song here which is probably the slickest and most professional of these clips. Very fascinating and the message is extremely subtle. You don't see Mubarak till the very end. I think this gets top marks.