The Middle East this week? Think Colorado in July and the movie megaplex massacre - but instead of a lone gunman on the lose in cinema nine, there's a gang shooting it up in all 16 theatres.
New noises from Cinema Gaza pretty well mask an emerging reality in Cinema Jordan - after a year and more of tap-dancing to avoid the Arab Spring's rapier tip, analysts detected blood on the garments of King Abdullah II and his Marie Antoinette queen - Rania.
Like Bashar Al-Assad in Cinema Syria, Abdullah thought he might - and here, please, excuse a seeming contradiction - finesse his way through the irritation of the Arab Spring with a series of crude gestures that have failed to head off a reform storm surge that threatens him.
And, despite the week's headline from the region, it would be a mistake to be distracted from the horror show in Cinema Syria - already shots are coming through the walls, into Cinemas Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan; Cinema Israel, too. It's become a serious complication for Cinema Iran and only a bit less so for Cinema Iraq.The Middle East this week? Think Colorado in July and the movie megaplex massacre - but instead of a lone gunman on the lose in cinema nine, there's a gang shooting it up in all 16 theatres.
New noises from Cinema Gaza pretty well mask an emerging reality in Cinema Jordan - after a year and more of tap-dancing to avoid the Arab Spring's rapier tip, analysts detected blood on the garments of King Abdullah II and his Marie Antoinette queen - Rania.
Like Bashar Al-Assad in Cinema Syria, Abdullah thought he might - and here, please, excuse a seeming contradiction - finesse his way through the irritation of the Arab Spring with a series of crude gestures that have failed to head off a reform storm surge that threatens him.
And, despite the week's headline from the region, it would be a mistake to be distracted from the horror show in Cinema Syria - already shots are coming through the walls, into Cinemas Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan; Cinema Israel, too. It's become a serious complication for Cinema Iran and only a bit less so for Cinema Iraq.
