Ben Bella represented a type now largely extinct in the Middle East — the left-wing, authoritarian secular nationalist, of which Egypt’s General Nasser was the most influential.
Middle east
Only faint hope for a deal with Iran on nukes
For a couple of months things have been looking pretty bleak on the Iranian front.
Can the peace option work in Syria?
The big news overnight from the Middle East was an announcement from the Arab League that the Syrian government has agreed to the League’s peace plan for Syria.
Blood mixes with waste: Gaddafi pulled from a drain
Gaddafi may look like the main game, and he’ll be on every front page of the world today, but he was a relic surviving into the new world from the old.
Compare and contrast: Yemen and Saudi Arabia
Promises of reform in two neighbouring mid-east countries: in Yemen, president Ali Abdullah Saleh calls for early elections and says he is committed to a peaceful transfer of power. In Saudi Arabia, king Abdullah has announced that from 2015 women will be allowed to stand and vote in local elections.
The Dead Sea is dying (it’s not as funny as it sounds)
The Dead Sea is more like a dry creek than a sea these days. It also contains eight times more salt than a normal ocean, meaning it’s too salty for any living thing to survive in it. Who will fix it?
Revealed: US program to spy on Arab social media and mobile users
Stolen emails have shed light on a major US operation spying on Arab social media and mobile phone users, explains Barrett Brown.
Turkey blazes the trail for a democratic Mid-East
It’s a bad time to be an autocrat, especially in the Middle East, but incumbents in democracies are not doing too badly — and few better than Turkey’s prime minister Recep Erdogan, who won re-election for a third term at the weekend with a substantial majority.
Dictator Watch: Syrians continue to protest despite massacres
Yet another Middle Eastern dictator is on the run. President Bashar al Assad, whose family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for the last 40 years, is facing the biggest-ever challenge to his rule.
interactive 
Domino Effect tumbles the Middle East
There’s been much discussion of the recent unrest in the Middle East, but this animated map by Slate clearly explains what’s happened on a daily basis — and where — from the first protests in Tunisia in December to yesterday in Yemen.
Rupert Murdoch, time lord
Psst, can someone tell The Australian it’s March 2011, not March 2010, please.
Mid-East uprising stopped in its tracks by West’s strategic uncertainty
The uprisings in the Middle East have been stopped dead in their tracks by a ferocious reaction from some of the world’s worst dictatorships, emboldened by international apathy.
As Middle East moves ahead, are women getting left behind?
Women in Egypt organised a march for equality this week that resulted in a violent clash with a male crowd. As Middle Eastern countries fight against oppression, there’s a growing concern that democracy might not include women’s rights.
The Middle East revolution that you haven’t heard of yet
Oman is traditionally one of the most stable countries of the Middle East, but recent anti-government demonstrations left six dead from clashes with authorities. It’s not the youth-led furious protests of Egypt and others, so how will it end?
Libya 
I’ve just backed the dictator
Now I know the odds are against him. But 6/1 ($7.0) about Colonel Gaddafi still being in charge of at least part of Libya at the end of the year just seemed to good to me to resist, writes betting man Richard Farmer.
PHOTO GALLERY 
The new Tiananmen Squares
As the revolution domino effect topples through the Middle East, Foreign Policy goes on a tour of the town squares where the democracy demonstrations — and the murders — are taking place.
How to holiday in Iraq
Iraq isn’t on most people’s 10 holiday destination lists, but the Tourism Minister for Kurdistan — a renegade state of Iraq — is trying to change that. Sure, there may not be public bathrooms, but a deep sense of history and beautiful landscape makes it an interesting spot for a getaway.
Tales from a revolution
Driving into Benghazi, Libya Jon Lee Anderson gets right up amongst the anti-Gaddafi protests, where border patrol want their photo taken in front of the new flag and freedom shimmers like a mirage.
An inflationary kick along
Uncertainty in the Middle East has a price, as reflected by 1 April futures for Brent crude oil published on the ICE Exchange last night, writes Richard Farmer.
Gaddafi reads the same script as Ben Ali and Mubarak — but headed for a bloodier end
The Gaddafi regime sounds just like the Ben Ali and Mubarak regimes — only, it is inflicting a far bloodier toll on protesters.
Crikey Says: Revolution on speed
This is revolution in fast forward. Here’s the timeline, from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen and Jordan…
