(Opinion) who would be a middle east president

While being a politician job is far from a walk in the park in any country or region, you would have to be insane to want to be a member of the political class in any country in the middle east of your choice. while the worst a politician can face in the west is the odd protest and chronic voter apathy, his counterpart in hthe middle east are either hound out of office by his fellow citizens or forced out by his own state apparatus.

Now this is not to say that politicians in the middle east have not earned this pressure as they frequent the top 20 of  the transparency corruption index and have either ordered or supported the brutal suppression of their own people.Nevertheless. Pakistan is perfect example of the point made above as Asif Zardari, the remarkably disliked president finds himself disliked a by the majority of Pakistani's, has to suffer the open ambivalence of the security forces and courts towards his presidency, and has a bad relationship with one of Pakistans very few allies anywhere, the united states.

 However some of it has brought upon himself as he has a string of untried corruption cases against his name and is seen as not really addressing any of Pakistan's many problems.With the Pakistani Supreme court reopening a corruption case against Zardari, leading to the president having appoint new prime minster after the last one refused to accept a court order, it adds to the well believed case the judiciary  favors the military over the president.

This dynamic can be seen in many middle eastern countries no better example than Egypt where the judiciary supported the Mubarak and the army positions wholeheartedly explaining the recent judicial dissolution of the constitution and parliament.

In sum, politics can be a dirty business were loyalty is low and apathy and suspicion is high but in the middle east being a politician is a dangerous and for some a deadly proposition.