Saturday, July 15, 2017

A new phenomenon in Arab social media

This is unprecedented.  Usamah Fawzi has become the star of Arab social media.  Fawzi is the publisher and editor of Houston's based, Arab Times, which is a scandal political tabloid which has been publishing for years.  It is widely read in the US and mostly in the Arab world because it publishes details of scandals (some real and some less real) about the Arab world especially its rulers.  The political orientations of the fellow are not very clear: he is opposed to Arab regimes and is bitterly opposed to Arafat; he attacks the rulers of Jordan but he is soft on the King and his father.  He seems closer to the Syrian regime than its opponents and is very opposed to the sons of Zayid (he worked and lived for years in the UAE).  Two weeks ago, he started a youtube channel and posts several videos (sometimes per day) on various aspects of Arab politics and even society.  I was astonished how successful it has become and how popular.  Within days, some Arab intelligence services (he suspects the Saudis) produced this guy to refute what Fawzi says.  But the guy is so boring and has nothing to offer, and yet lists tens of thousands of views, which strains reason.  Fawzi, on the other hand, while crude and vulgar at times, can be a good story teller and is amusing even if the stories are not necessarily credible (his post about Tall Az-Za`tar for example is not accurate as he places Arab Deterrent Forces in the camp when they came to Lebanon months after the fall of the camp).  It is clear that Arab intelligence services are very unhappy about this and will try to silence him--probably in the name of "fighting terrorism".  He is always impeccably dressed in the videos and wears a different hat.  He is most informed about the UAE and Jordan, but less informed about other places.

PS He also believes that the Jordanian monarchy should stay.