Asma al-Assad seen splurging while country burns

[Douglas Carpenter]

3. Al Arabiya is an agenda driven Saudi owned network who are also the leading sponsors of the Jihadist

elements of the Syrian rebels. The Saudi Royal Family who own Al Arabiya with their thousands of Princes and Princesses are not in the strongest position to point figures at splurging self-indulgence.

Al Arabiya was created to be a direct competitor of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera.[6] As a response to Al Jazeera's criticism of the Saudi royal family throughout the 1990s, members of the Saudi royal family established Al Arabiya in Dubai in 2002.[9] According to a 2008 New York Times profile of Al Arabiya director Abdul Rahman Al Rashed, the channel works "to cure Arab television of its penchant for radical politics and violence," with Al Jazeera as its main target. Al Arabiya is said to be the second frequently watched channel after Al Jazeera in Saudi Arabia.[10]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Arabiya