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7[[quoteright:295:[[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carbombya_marker.jpg]]]]
8 [[caption-width-right:295:"I swear by this camel I am jockeying, [[BlatantLies you will find no stereotypes in Carbombya!"]]]]
9->''"The rich history of the Middle East is well-documented, so there is little that authors need to add by way of discouraging you from visiting there."''
10-->-- ''Literature/AmericaTheBook''
11
12A FictionalCountry in North UsefulNotes/{{Africa}}, the [[UsefulNotes/TheMiddleEast Middle East]], or Central or South UsefulNotes/{{Asia}}, typically UsefulNotes/{{Arab|World}}, UsefulNotes/{{Turkic|Peoples}}, or Indo-Iranian, named for the fictional country that causes so much trouble in Franchise/TheDCU. There are three (often overlapping) versions:
13
14The modern [[ArabianNightsDays Arabian Nights]] version tends to be ruled by a [[ArabOilSheikh gobsmackingly rich Sultan and/or Sheikh]], with his doe-eyed concubines to be put at the disposal of the Honoured Effendi. Oil is compulsory. Often a CrapsaccharineWorld that still uses beheadings, hangings, and stonings for minor crimes despite the facade of a ShiningCity with CrystalSpiresAndTogas. Prototypes are UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia, the UsefulNotes/UnitedArabEmirates (especially UsefulNotes/{{Dubai}}), and other oil-rich areas in the Arabian Peninsula, along with the UsefulNotes/{{Maldives}}, UsefulNotes/{{Egypt}} under Fuad I and ''especially'' Farouk (the latter's name serving as a byword for extravagant luxury in the mid-twentieth-century Anglosphere), and pre-revolutionary UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}.
15
16Another version has a [[TheGeneralissimo military dictator]] whose pretentious title is inversely proportional to the size of his domain. His ragtag army and air force will probably be equipped with rusting Soviet surplus and manned by luckless conscripts, a few of which may be [[SociopathicSoldier genuinely crazy]]. Oil is optional, America-hating terrorists are a must. It is usually located in North Africa or the Middle East, with [[UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi Gaddafi]]-era Libya, [[UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein Saddam]]-era Iraq, [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfModernEgypt post-monarchy Egypt]], and contemporary Syria as prototypes. It may also be former UsefulNotes/{{Soviet|RussiaUkraineAndSoOn}} territory in Central Asia (UsefulNotes/{{Turkmenistan}} appears to be the prototype here, with its now-deceased batshit insane dictator [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov Saparmurat "Turkmenbashi" Niyazov]] and his only slightly less batshit insane successor [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurbanguly_Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly "Arkadag" Berdimuhamedow]]) or a Muslim-majority region of South Asia ([[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan Soviet invasion-era]] UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}}, contemporary UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Bangladesh}} when it was under the control of Pakistan as East Pakistan being prototypes).
17
18The third version is a Jihadistan ruled by a junta of religious fanatics, imams, ayatollahs and mullahs. [[NoWomansLand You are likely to see only men in the streets]], with women either being [[StayInTheKitchen locked in their homes]] or wearing black burqas and escorted by men. An overall sense of squalor and apathy prevails, interrupted by occasional flag burnings, beheadings and stonings. Oil optional. Prototypes are UsefulNotes/{{Afghanistan}} under the Taliban, [[UsefulNotes/{{Palestine}} Gaza]] under [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict Hamas]], the former Soviet republic of UsefulNotes/{{Tajikistan}} during its civil war, Islamic State-occupied territory, the Tribal Zone in Pakistan, the [[UsefulNotes/TheKashmirQuestion disputed region of Kashmir]] on the border between Pakistan and UsefulNotes/{{India}}, and Bangladesh during its Liberation War. UsefulNotes/{{Iran}}'s current regime appears to be a mix of types 2 (especially when a creator wants to play up their enmity with Western countries like UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates) and 3 (especially when a creator wants to play up their theocratic elements), though as mentioned above, it leaned toward type 1 before the shah was overthrown. The leader of this Jihadistan is likely an {{Expy}} of Ayatollah Khomeini or Osama Bin Laden, who both were the faces of Islamic fundamentalism in the West for decades.
19
20Whichever version you're in, expect mosques, veils, scampering children demanding ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baksheesh Baksheesh]]'', heat, sand, and camels. And a lot of [[BeardOfEvil big-bearded]] {{Church Militant}}s (or Mosque Militants in this case, and either for or against the ruling regime) wielding AK-47s, shouting "Jihad!" or "Allahu Akbar!" 24/7 and [[SuicideAttack blowing themselves up]] for 72 virgins. Oh, and oil. And you can [[ExoticExtendedMarriage marry up to four wives]] if you're a guy. And [[HeteronormativeCrusader no queer people]] allowed there. If you don't like [[HollywoodCuisine Kebab or Hummus]], you'd better bring your own food. Ironically, do not expect to hear ArabBeobleTalk--that trope is almost unheard of in the West, so people familiar with it generally provide a more faithful depiction of Muslim countries.
21
22Heads up for writers: many countries in the list have the suffix "[[{{Countrystan}} -stan]]" in them as an obvious nod to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the various former Soviet republics ending with that suffix. It's ''not'' something to misuse. If you want a Qurac that is explicitly Arab in culture, do not use the suffix. There has never been an Arab country that has "-stan" in it and there will never be one; it's a Persian suffix meaning "land of" and is restricted to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Iranian_languages Indo-Iranian]] and [[UsefulNotes/TurkicPeoples Turkic]] worlds.
23
24Note that such a country is only Qurac if it's on Earth. Stereotypically Middle Eastern-style countries on other worlds are ArabianNightsDays-style {{Fantasy Counterpart Culture}}s.
25
26On a side note, Qatar is the only (real) country in the world that has a name starting with "Q" (and furthermore, this is only a Romanization convention). On another note, the phonetic sounding of "Qurac" is identical to the word for "dry" or "arid" in Turkish (spelled: kurak) and Azeri (spelled: quraq). It is also one letter away from a vulgar word for penis in some Slavic languages such as Serbian.
27
28See also {{Bulungi}}, {{Countrystan}}, {{Ruritania}}, BananaRepublic and TropicalIslandAdventure.
29
30----
31!!Examples:
32
33[[foldercontrol]]
34
35[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
36* ''Manga/Area88'' is set in the fictional Middle-Eastern nation of Asran (also spelled Aslan), following the exploits of a [[MultinationalTeam foreign legion]] of mercenary fighter pilots [[DuringTheWar during a civil war]]. [[spoiler: Although it's fairly clear from the descriptions of the people, and the time-period it is set in, [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute that it's a fictional version]] of UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} during the [[UsefulNotes/IranianRevolution overthrow of the Shah]].]]
37* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' [[spoiler:The Mid-East Alliance, formed by Middle-eastern-looking countries fighting a war against Marley after they lost the Colossal and Female Titans. Their soldiers wear fezes and in the manga their speech bubbles have arabic script.]]
38* Area 18, the unspecified Middle Eastern territory from ''Anime/CodeGeass''. It was on screen for such little time, though, that not much was shown aside from its desert location and stereotypically-dressed natives.
39** It was named "The Middle-Eastern Federation" (and the characters actually call it this, at least in the subbed version) prior to its conquest by [[TheEmpire The Holy Empire of Britiannia]]. Presumably it was a composite of many otherwise real modern nations of the region.
40** Also, it apparently had ideals involving equality and democracy, or at least the Emperor berated them and the EU in the same sentence for trying to pretend that all men are created equal, when class-system is clearly the right way to go.
41* The L4 Colonies (Home of Quatre and the Maganacs) from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing''.
42* Venus is depicted as this in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', having lots of Arabic writing, bazaars, Turkish-style architecture, and a desert environment.
43* Mireille and Kirika of ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' have one mission in an unnamed Mideastern nation in the episode "The Black Thread Of Fate" involving them being hired to kill a warlord and then escape to their extraction point after the mission goes south and Kirika is wounded.
44* ''Manga/{{Planetes}}'' has Mananga, an oil-producing desert country torn by civil war.
45* The Anime/LupinIIIPartII series has several episodes featuring these; [[Recap/LupinIIIS2E65 one of them]], for example, takes place in Cocodad; an impoverished desert nation of only three thousand people.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Comic Books]]
49* Qurac, the TropeNamer, from the Franchise/DCUniverse. In the 1980s, Qurac appeared in ''[[ComicBook/TeenTitans New Teen Titans]]'' (where it was introduced), ''[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Adventures of Superman]]'', and ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad''. It was initially a blatant stand-in for Iraq (it was led by President Marlo, who was drawn to resemble Saddam Hussein, and it was at war with a country called Kyran). Qurac sponsored a HumongousMecha attack on Metropolis and a team of superpowered terrorists called the Jihad. Superman disarmed the country's military. In a three-issue Superman story called ''The Sinbad Contract'' focused on Quraci immigrants living in Metropolis, Qurac gained a few traits from Iran (specifically, a past leader called a Shah predating Marlo's regime). This story established that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome large numbers of people had fled Qurac over its government's actions]]. In the 90s, Qurac was wiped off the face of Earth by the assassin Cheshire, using nukes she stole and ultimately detonated for the [[ForTheEvulz evilulz]]. Its appearances after ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' have been very rare (Scott Lobdell has used it to re-set [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily events that originally took place in Ethiopia]]), and it appeared in a Steve Orlando-written fill-in arc of ''ComicBook/WonderWomanRebirth''.
50** There is also Bialya (also wiped off the face of the Earth, during ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''), which was a stand-in for Syria and was heavily featured when the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica was ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational. And there's Umar (a thinly-veiled Iraq, complete with America-instigated war during the Joe Kelly ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' run). Not to mention Kahndaq (a more liberalized Egypt, ruled by Pharaonic AntiHero Black Adam).
51** There's also Umec (acronym for "'''u'''named '''M'''iddle-'''E'''astern '''c'''ountry"), which was invaded by the US during Greg Rucka's ''[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Adventures of Superman]]'' run.
52** Another example is Syraq, dating back to 1988's ''[[Franchise/{{Batman}} Detective Comics]]'' #590. [[OlderThanTheyThink Twenty years before]] Creator/FrankMiller announced ''his'' "Batman fights Middle Eastern Terrorists" project.
53*** A certain country is obviously UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} in the initial print run of ''A Death in the Family'', as a major plot point is the DiplomaticImpunity conferred on ComicBook/TheJoker by ''Ayatollah Khomeni himself'' as part of a plot to gas the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations to death. Worse yet, Batman refers to an Iranian gunman firing at him in the Joker's helicopter as a "panicked Arab." (There is a reason why this chapter is not highly regarded.) Presumably the changed political climate necessitated a rapid RomanAClef when the time came for reprints, and Syraq was conveniently substituted in.
54** The Prestige one-shot ''Superpower'' featured two countries, Kirai and Vudistan, stand-ins for Iraq and Kurdistan. The former was invaded by JLA washout Antaeus, who assassinated the country's dictator.
55* The titular Pootweet in the ''[[ComicBook/TheFabulousFurryFreakBrothers Fat Freddy's Cat]]'' comic "The Sacred Sands of Pootweet".
56* Trucial Abysmia appeared in several issues of Marvel's ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe]]'' comics. As indicated in ''G.I. Joe Special Missions'' #18, it is located on the eastern coast of North Africa. It represents Middle-Eastern dictator-ruled countries in the region. It was involved in a conflict the neighboring emirate of Benzheen.
57* The Papercutz ''Literature/HardyBoys'' graphic novels heavily feature war-torn Osyria -- the first book is about a stolen ancient artwork from the country and later books feature miscellaneous Osyrians as henchmen.
58* Meanwhile, the Franchise/MarvelUniverse has a Qurac in the form of Aqiria, the original home of the supervillain Fasaud (a ComicBook/FantasticFour villain from the late 80's - not one of Steve Englehart's prouder moments). It receives much less page-time than European [[{{Ruritania}} Latveria]] or African [[{{Afrofuturism}} Wakanda]]. ''Comicbook/{{Champions|2016}}'' introduces Sharzad, which is specifically a stand-in for Pakistan though is noted for having an unusually high level of gender equality.
59** ''ComicBook/IronFist1975'' had Halwan, apparently a resource-rich country of non-specifically Middle Eastern origin whose inhabitants to tend to refer to people they don't like as "infidel" and "dog". However, in a surprisingly progressive move, their ruler is a woman (only she is also an evil dictator, and so there's a rebellion out to get her off the throne).
60* ''ComicBook/SteelgripStarkeyAndTheAllPurposePowerTool'' has a passing mention of Kuhlavi, ruled by the "desert lord" Haroun Zamahdi.
61* Khemed in ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' is a Qurac invented to re-set scenes in Palestine once these scenes were no longer topical.
62* Lousdem in ''ComicBook/WeaponsOfMassDiplomacy'' is a Middle-Eastern dictatorship which the Bush administration intends to invade.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
66* Naturally, Agrabah in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' is an ''Literature/ArabianNights'' version of this trope, combining Arabian and Indian cultures and being located somewhere in the Middle East near the Jordan River. Doubly so as when the show was released in other countries, the writers were careful about name and design choices to not potentially offend anyone.
67** In the source material, the story of Aladdin is set specifically in China. But since it's probably an Arabic folktale (its point of origin is extremely vague, and it first showed up in an eighteenth-century French translation of ''The Arabian Nights''), since 'China' is a generic term for 'country way off to the east' in Middle Eastern folktales, and since everyone in the story has Arabic names (the original storytellers presumably not being too familiar with the actual China), Disney moved it to Qurac.
68** That said, China [[UsefulNotes/{{Xinjiang}} does have a lot of land that is actually Central Asian Muslim]], so it's not far fetched.
69* ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' realize that the nation of "Derk-Derka-Stan" was responsible for the attack on the Panama Canal and go there to try and retaliate. However they never get to land there (as they're shot down above their airspace). Cairo, Egypt is, however, portrayed this way.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
73* ''Film/SixUnderground'': Turgistan is seemingly in the Middle East, likely based on Syria, though its name is derived from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkestan Turkestan]], an archaic term for Central Asia.
74* ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' manages to roll up Qurac ''and'' {{Bulungi}} into one, with the fictional country of Nairomi (rather unimaginative mangling of the capital of UsefulNotes/{{Kenya}}, Nairobi). It is Bulungi because it seems to be sub-Saharan African in culture and population, but also Qurac because it's desert and implied to be Muslim.
75* ''[[Film/BenHur1959 Ben-Hur]]'' had a few scenes of Arabia during BibleTimes[=/=]AncientRome time. Of particular note was Ilderim, a [[BoisterousBruiser lusty, swaggering sheik]] who gleefully raised Arabian horses and cleverly mocked the Roman soldiers. It's his chariot that Heston is driving in the famous Chariot Race scene. A [[InterchangeableAsianCultures linguistic blunder]] in that Ilderim is a Turkic name (meaning 'thunderbolt'; ''yıldırım'' in modern Turkish). In the period when ''Ben-Hur'' was set, the ancestral Turks were still living in East Asia and had not made any contact with Arabs yet.
76* ''Film/BlackAdam2022'' brings in one of the countries listed in the comics folder, Kahndaq, which is clearly very Middle-Eastern (desertic, Arabic speech and writing, Mesopotamian past) and resonating with how the region is now, is an occupied country exploited by a terrorist group.
77* ''Covert Assassin'' (you can tell a lot about it just from that title) involves a flight to "The Middle East". It never even specifies what ''country'', suggesting the makers of the movie thought of the entire region as this trope.
78* The film ''Death Before Dishonor'' featured the nation of Jemal, where anti-American sentiment spills over into terrorist acts. Media studies professor Jack Shaheen wrote in his book, ''Reel Bad Arabs'', that it ranked in the 4 most anti-Arab films of all time.
79* The Creator/SachaBaronCohen movie ''Film/TheDictator'' is about the dictator of the fictional Republic of Wadiya. The dictator, Admiral General Aladeen, is pretty much a combination of UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi and UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein. Subverted somewhat in that we are shown where the country is, which is where Eritrea is in Real Life.
80* ''Film/ErnestInTheArmy'' revolves around a war between the fictional Persian Gulf countries of Arizia and Karifistan.
81* ''Film/GodzillaVsBiollante'' has Saradia, an arid, oil-rich country in the Middle East which is seeking a way to transition from an economy solely driven by oil to one that includes agriculture.
82* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'''s Republic of Hatay could have count as an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] because such a state actually existed in southern Turkey during the late 1930s, but it was nothing like the movie version. The EstablishingShot with the line "Republic of Hatay" clearly shows StockFootage of ''the Hagia Sofia church/mosque in Istanbul'' during dawn and is immediately followed by a meeting between the bad guys and ''the Sultan'' of the country. Anybody gets what's wrong with that?
83** Plus the city of Petra (used as the grail temple) is in Jordan.
84* ''Film/IronEagle'' pits a heroic kid pilot against the entire air force of the anonymous Middle Eastern country responsible for shooting down and holding his father for ransom.
85** The sequel, ''Film/IronEagleII'', similarly uses an anonymous Middle Eastern nation that's developed covert nuclear weapons as the BigBad.
86** Note that in both cases, the country's location is shown on maps during briefings - it's Libya in the first movie, Iran in the second one, consistent with the U.S.'s two biggest Middle Eastern enemies at the time the movies were made. It's just that the countries' names are never mentioned, and the national flags displayed are imaginary.
87* The titular country in ''Film/{{Ishtar}}'' is a classic example. The two [[IdiotHero Idiot Heroes]] are struggling American songwriters who go the dangerous nation due to performing there being their only option for a job. They end up being unwittingly roped into a plot to kill the Emir and HilarityEnsues.
88* ''Film/TheJewelOfTheNile'': The fictional country of Kadir is ruled by your typical tinpot dictator, and the insurgents trying to depose him look just like Mujahideen.
89* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'' begins with an assault of some base in the middle of an unspecified desert.
90* ''Film/MidnightExpress'' did this to Turkey, creating the whole "Turkish prison" cliché and ironing it on everyone's mind.
91* Hassan and Suleiman from ''Film/NoKidding'' are the princes of a Middle Eastern country called "Sudi Ismaelia".
92* ''Film/ASailorMadeMan'': Harold's Navy vessel takes shore leave in Agar Shahar Khairpura, the "City of a Thousand Rascals", in the country of Khairpura-Bhandanna. Harold then has an adventure where he rescues his girlfriend from the predatory maharajah.
93* ''Film/{{Syriana}}'' revolves around who controls the oil reserves of an unidentified Qurac.
94* Turaqistan, from ''Film/WarInc'', is a Middle Eastern country occupied by an American private corporation run by a former US Vice-President.
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Literature]]
98* ''Literature/AlifTheUnseen'' takes place in a fictional Middle Eastern country complete with rich emirs, veiled women, and extreme religious views.
99* The ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' novel ''Double-Blind'' features the Periphery planet of Astrokasky, which is this trope on a planetary level. The whole place is a [[SingleBiomePlanet desert world]] with city-states ruled by caliphs who fight with each other and with the nomads who wander the deserts between cities. The leaders live in luxurious palaces while the people starve, many are slaves, women have no rights, etc.
100* ''Literature/CatAmongThePigeons'' involves a hunt for royal jewels from the country of Ramat.
101* ''Cataclysmic Horizons'' has the northeastern United States get taken over by a Type III regime that very quickly tries to ethnic-cleanse "Ameristan" of all non-Arabs and non-Muslims. It plays with ZombieApocalypse tropes, using the Jihadists as a substitute for zombies.
102* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''[[Literature/OrsonScottCardsEmpire Empire]]'' makes use of one of these. An unnamed Muslim country, where the USA is doing something unauthorized, seems to be the {{Theme Park|s}} version of Afghanistan but is explicitly ''not'' Afghanistan.
103* Christopher Buckley's ''Florence Of Arabia'' takes place in the fundamentalist Wasabia and the more westernized Matar, which appear to be StrawmanPolitical {{Expy}}s of UsefulNotes/SaudiArabia and UsefulNotes/{{Qatar}} respectively.
104* Creator/SheriSTepper created the state of Alphenlicht ("elf light"?) for her Marianne trilogy (''Marianne, the Magus and the Manticore'', ''Marianne, the Madame and the Momentary Gods'' and ''Marianne, the Matchbox and the Malachite Mouse''). Alphenlicht is a micronation tucked away somewhere where Iran, Turkey, and the Soviet Union get their borders muddled up in the mountains. It is ruled by a hereditary theocracy of Magi (Zoroastrian priests and the original magicians), and has the neighboring micronation of Lubovosk as its dire enemy. Lubovosk used to be part of Alphenlicht but was seized by the USSR and made into a puppet state. It, too, is headed by a Magocracy, an evil branch of the same family.
105* ''Literature/TheMarkAndTheVoid'' has the Caliphate of Oran, a fictional Gulf nation plagued by Islamic terrorists, fueled by oil, and ruled by a single, extremely wealthy man.
106* ''Literature/ModestyBlaise'' has the Sheikdom of Malaurak in the first novel, a small Arabian country inhabited by nomadic tribes which has recently become part of the modern world due to the discovery of oil.
107* The downtimer jihadists and their uptime recruiters in ''Literature/TimeScout'' are presented as Muslim extremists and rabid misogynists, all from an exploded time terminal in an undisclosed location in the Middle East.
108* Creator/HGWells has two short stories taking place in the middle east or Muslim Asia, one being an Literature/ArabianNights-period morality tale with a premise clearly inspired by the story of the Taj Mahal, and the other being a bait-and-switch tale taking place in what at the time of writing was probably the perception of the "contemporary" Muslim world (possibly the Himalayas).
109[[/folder]]
110
111[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
112* Several of ''Series/TwentyFour'''s {{Big Bad}}s have come from Qurac. The show has also featured America attempting to start war on Qurac and its neighbours several times.
113** The second season was particularly JustForFun/{{Egregious}}, only referring to the respective Quracs as "three Middle Eastern countries." Names for the countries on Website/TelevisionWithoutPity ranged from "Isn'treal" to "Tofurkey".
114* ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'' averts this by using Libya as a setting in the pilot episode and Libyan agents occasionally return in the rest of the series; dictator Muammar Qaddafi is even named, if not shown, as the ultimate architect of the plots to steal Airwolf.
115* Series/TheATeam visited one once as well, a country with a monarchy threatened by a revolutionary movement; the A-Team is hired as bodyguards for the nation's princess.
116* The kingdom of Hortensia in ''Series/{{Galavant}}'' appears Qurac-ish with its "pointy-hatted army" and an Arabian-esque castle/fortress.
117* Despite having several episodes taking place in the Middle East, ''Series/{{JAG}}'' subverts this trope by always using real countries, no matter how unfavorable the portrayal may be.
118* ''Series/MacGyver1985'' visited a few of these, especially in season 1, though usually in opening gambits so we don't get much more than a glimpse of the country. One of these gambits portrays two tribes living in desert encampments ready to go to war over a stolen horse. Another portrays a desert fortress where terrorist activities are being planned against the United States. A third has him destroying a nuclear reactor that was about to go operational.
119** We finally get a full episode in an unnamed North African Qurac towards the end of the season, where he infiltrates a prison in order to rescue a social worker. The country's authorities are shown to be corrupt and abusive - soldiers harass street merchants, the prison warden colludes with a drug dealing inmate, and a prisoner Mac befriends is there "for the crime of not bribing a judge." Slightly averted, however, in that the authorities turn out to have had a very ''good'' reason to lock up the alleged social worker, who's really a thief and arms dealer with terrorist connections.
120* Although many missions took place in {{Ruritania}} or the BananaRepublic, ''Series/MissionImpossible'' did venture into Qurac from time to time.
121* The ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' adaptation of ''Literature/MurderOnTheOrientExpress'' included the stoning of a woman in 1934 Istanbul (which should be then at the height of Ataturk's westernization policies, no less) for seemingly no reason at all. Looks like Turkey can't just catch a break.
122** WordOfGod is that it was intended to have Poirot thinking about how "the law" doesn't always mean justice, tying in to his decision at the end.
123* In ''Series/Tyrant2014'', the protagonist's father is the dictator of a fictional Middle-Eastern country called Abbudin. The fact that it borders Syria and apparently has a coastline of its own would suggest it's a stand-in for Lebanon.
124* A long-running arc on ''Series/TheWestWing'' involved the fictional country of Qumar, noted for its strategically useful location for US military interests, its cruel treatment of women ("The Women of Qumar"), and the fact that [[spoiler: the President ordered the assassination of its secretary of defense ("Posse Comitatus"), which eventually prompted the retaliatory kidnapping of his daughter ("Twenty Five").]]
125** Qumar's relationship to the US is modeled closely on Saudi Arabia's, as are its human rights issues. Brief glimpses of maps in the situation room show Qumar is a small nation north of the Strait of Hormuz, bordered on all other sides by Iran.
126** At the same time much of the West Wing is modeled on past events in the real world which Sorkin read about and fictionalised. One of the war room subplots, for example, was inspired by Clinton's bombing of a pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, though in that case it was identified as being an attack on Syria.
127** The West Wing also had 'Equatorial Kundu' which was undergoing a very African civil war.
128** And ironically, despite having two fictional countries on the books, the series mocks a fictional Republican representative for not knowing that [[Film/DuckSoup Freedonia]] is a fictional country.
129* In ''Series/YesMinister'', Jim Hacker visits [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran_%28fictional_country%29 Qumran]], a fictional Muslim country based on Pakistan -- in fact, the scene where Hacker and his staff secretly consume alcohol was based on a real-life incident that happened on a British diplomatic visit to Pakistan.
130** On another occasion a British nurse was sentenced to several lashes for possessing a bottle of whiskey, which provokes a miniature crisis as the government does not want to push too hard as the Qumranis are described as great friends of Britain, letting them know what the Soviets were up to in Iraq, allowing listening posts to be set up for Britain's use, and even sabotaging Opec agreements for them.
131** Another possible Qurac in ''Series/YesMinister'' is [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny "The People's Democratic Republic of East Yemen"]]. In reality Yemen was divided into the communist People's Republic of South Yemen and North Yemen (first the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and then the Yemen Arab Republic).
132** Qumran becomes Qumranistan (although it's ''possible'' they are meant to be different countries) in the ''Yes, Prime Minister'' stage revival and the subsequent [[Main/TheRemake TV remake]].
133* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' has its share of fictional countries, particularly Kazhistan in "The Queen's Gambit Job," who is secretly developing a nuclear weapon. There's also the African country of Wadata in "The Scheherazade Job" - that one focuses on the (honest) ruler's corrupt brother.
134* ''Series/DesignatedSurvivor'' has the small Middle Eastern nation of Kunami, introduced in the Season 2 episode "Two Ships" after a US destroyer collides with a garbage barge in its territorial waters. It appears to be a fusion of Yemen and Iran as it is described as having a shaky regime with numerous sanctions imposed on it, including one for a nuclear enrichment program. But then Iran is namedropped in the previous season and in the same episode on is willing to support Kunami if the US attempts a rescue mission by force. A map shows that they're located next to Saudi Arabia from the northeast next to the Persian Gulf.
135** Kunami reappears later in the season in the episode "Fallout", when they [[spoiler: stage a FalseFlagOperation to make it appear that the [[FictionalCountry North Korea stand-in]] East Han Chiu attacked D.C. with a dirty bomb, in order to start a war they can profit from by selling East Han Chiu weapons on the black market]]. This enrages President Kirkman to the point he orders airstrikes on the country, trying to force the Emir to admit responsibility and stand down. Then the following episode "Overkill" reveals that [[spoiler: the attack was actually engineered by Kunami's ambassador to the US and a Sunni rebel leader, in the hopes that the US would invade and topple the Shi'a minority regime]]. Then, a SEAL team discovers stockpiled chemical weapons which were to be used on Sunni dissidents, which is used as leverage to remove the Emir anyway.
136* ''Series/WhodunnitUK'': In "Instant Coffee", the Arab ruler of an oil-rich country located between Oman and the UAE on the Persian gulf, appears to die from poisoning after drinking coffee. The king is very conservative and is trying to keep outside influence out his country, while his son is far more progressive, engaged to a westerner, and looking to get foreign oil money into the country to improve life for the common people.
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder:Music]]
140* The music video for [[TheEighties '80s]] new-wavers Blancmange's "Living On the Ceiling" was filmed in Egypt and features all the stereotypical money shots of riding camels at the pyramids, crowded bazaars, and dancing veiled harem girls. The song itself has a Mideastern-sounding beat as well as sitars (thus overlapping with MysticalIndia).
141* Shows up in the music video for R. Kelly's song "Snake"
142[[/folder]]
143
144[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
145* ''ComicStrip/ModestyBlaise'': "Willie the Djinn" is set in Shibarahn, a sheikdom in the process of transitioning from its nomadic tribal past into a modern oil-rich nation. There are a lot of ArabianNightsDays tropes associated with the parts of the country still living in the past.
146[[/folder]]
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148[[folder:Video Games]]
149* ''VideoGame/FiftyCentBloodOnTheSand'' takes place in yet another unnamed Middle-Eastern country that the plot doesn't even bother naming it (however, the presence of a Napoleon statue implies it's either Egypt or Syria due to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_campaign_in_Egypt_and_Syria his expeditions in these lands]]). What we can tell for certain is that it's a war-torn hellhole with a barely stable infrastructure, not even able to pay the title protagonist when he goes to perform there except by offering an ancient treasure (a diamond-encrusted skull). And it proceeds to get a lot worse when terrorists steal that skull and Fifty embarks on a destructive quest to retrieve it, wrecking the country even harder in his path.
150* ''VideoGame/ASPAirStrikePatrol'' ''VideoGame/DesertFighter'' has you fighting in Zaraq, against the Zaraqis, in 1991, where the dictator bears an uncanny resemblance to a Middle Eastern leader captured and executed in 2003.
151* ''[[VideoGame/{{Battlefield}} Battlefield 2]]'' has you fighting against the "MiddleEasternCoalition", or MEC. While they seem to be based on Iraq heavily, they are never actually called that. The US and China don't get this treatment.
152** The popular ''Battlefield 2'' GameMod ''VideoGame/ProjectReality'' tweaks the MEC slightly to make it more of a AnonymousRinger of Iran instead of Iraq. This is followed by its SpiritualSuccessor ''VideoGame/{{Squad}}'', here called "Middle Eastern Alliance", where is used as stand-in for Iran, post-2003 Iraq and Syria.
153** ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Bad Company]]'' is even more blatant about the Iraq parallels, actually going so far as to have the MEC fly the Iraqi flag, as opposed to the made-up one from ''Battlefield 2''.[[note]]The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Iraq#1991–2004 Ba'athist-era flag]], specifically. The red-white-black horizontal tricolor is an Arab nationalist symbol and was incorporated into the flags of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-Arab_colors#Former_national_flags_with_the_Pan-Arab_colors Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen]], with the only real difference between these flags being the small design in the middle of the white stripe (Iraq had three stars, Syria had three stars and then two, Yemen had one star, Egypt had a golden eagle, Libya left it plain). The brief Egypt-Syria merger known as the United Arab Republic also had a flag like this (identical to the current Syrian flag, with two stars), as did the proposed Federation of Arab Republics that sought to merge Egypt, Syria, and Libya. So the MEC's flag looking just like Iraq or Syria's would actually be logical. It can be assumed that the United Arab Republic survived and expanded in this universe.[[/note]]
154** ''VideoGame/Battlefield3'' bucks the trend, though, with campaign missions explicitly set in Iran and Iraq, and with the MEC nowhere in sight (though the bad guys fought in said countries are still fictional, having overthrown the Islamic Republic of Iran and taken over the country), and in multiplayer the fight is mostly against Russia.
155* ''VideoGame/{{Call of Duty 4|ModernWarfare}}'' uses a nameless Middle Eastern country taken over by a violent, nuclear-armed and militarily aggressive nationalist regime as the setting for the first third of the game. The actual location of the country isn't made clear, as the pre-mission satellite photos jump from areas along the Red Sea suggesting Yemen, to the interior of Iran to the [[spoiler:epicenter of a nuclear bomb's explosion]] in Kuwait. It also doesn't help that the country is described as being small, which doesn't make sense if it stretches from the Red Sea to the River Euphrates a thousand miles away. Some of the missions actually seem to take place near Mecca, judging from the map. Leftover bits of old data on the disc indicate that the Qurac was going to be Saudi Arabia. The final product seems to be a mix of Saudi Arabia and Syria, with the former's backstory as an American-aligned monarchy but the latter's stock of Soviet-era weaponry, close relationship to Russia, secular nationalist dictatorship, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Assad_family ruling dynasty by the name of Al-Asad.]] [[BannedInChina The Saudi government saw through this and were less than amused.]] Even the name of the enemy army, [=OpFor=], offers no clues, as that's just short for '''Op'''posing '''Fo'''rce.
156** The final mission of ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3'' takes place in the "Arabian Peninsula", but is very obviously meant to be Dubai.
157** Averted in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'' - a few missions are directly stated to take place in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. Only one of them actually features you fighting against insurgents, though. The aforementioned [=OpFor=] returns as your opponents, and there are graffiti images of Al-Asad, so perhaps the country from the first game was Afghanistan. There's also a multiplayer map set in Karachi, Pakistan that has the Marines fighting said insurgents.
158** Also averted in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'', which has campaign levels directly stated to take place in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Socotra Island, Yemen. In the first, you fight ''with'' the insurgents against the [[UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan invading Soviet army]] (the level is set in 1986), while the second has you infiltrating a compound owned by the Big Bad to gather intel and the third has you as a deep-cover operative in a terrorist cell and then a Navy SEAL, both of whom are trying to capture the Big Bad. There is also a multiplayer map set in Kyrgyzstan, but no campaign level to accompany it.
159* While all 3 countries of Neroimus in ''VideoGame/ChromeHounds'' are Middle-Eastern, Sal Kar is definitely this trope.
160* ''VideoGame/CounterStrike: Condition Zero'' has a fictional Middle Eastern country called Ataq, which is a thinly-veiled expy of Iraq, and a fictional Central Asian country called Boshistan.
161* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'' has Kehjistan, which is based on South Asia, though interestingly has plenty of {{Mayincatec}} influences, a Darkest Africa feel, and is the seat of power of a monotheistic, very Christian influenced world religion.
162* Since ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' is an AffectionateParody of [[{{Eagleland}} American culture]], one of the towns is built entirely on the Hollywood view of the Middle East: Scaraba! Complete with Kebab, snake merchants, and a short walk to the pyramids.
163* Adonis from ''VideoGame/EnsembleStars'' is a ForeignExchangeStudent from an unnamed Arabian country; he never specifies, claiming that his Japanese classmates wouldn't have ever heard of it, which is a bit strange considering that he's always portrayed as caring very deeply about his home country and being very pleased whenever his friends show an interest in it. In the story ''1001 Arabian Nights'' it's stated that said home country is wracked by war and turmoil, and this is why he, his sisters, and mother moved to Japan (his father, being an important figure of some kind, remains there). He also states that it's common there to fast, though he indicates that he currently doesn't (at least in part because it'd be unsafe given the amount of physical work he does), and his TrademarkFavouriteFood is the middle-eastern favourite kebab.
164* ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' has Kyrat, a fictional Himalayan South Asian country based on Nepal and Bhutan which combines this with TheShangriLa, having the Tin-pot Dictator and his army, rampant militancy and misogyny of the type 2 and 3 variants, but a forested, mountainous landscape with Buddhist monasteries.
165* The nation of Ul'dah in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has the architecture, desert location, mercantile culture, harem girls, and ruling Sultan(a) of medieval Islamic trade centers, and is one of the two cities (the other being Ishgard) with notable scientific achievements.
166* ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/{{HAWX}}'' has an odd sort of zig-zagging regarding an early campaign mission. The mission in question is explicitly noted to take place in Afghanistan, but the problem is it's actually one of their neighbors that's causing trouble by harboring terrorists, and for some reason the game is extremely hesitant to actually state ''which'' neighbor these terrorists are taking refuge in, even as the mission involves you escorting a flight of bombers across the border to destroy their encampments. All you have to go on is that the target area is a camp in the mountains along the eastern border of Afghanistan, meaning it's most likely Tajikistan or Pakistan, or possibly even a very small area of China.
167* ''VideoGame/InsurgencySandstorm'' takes place in a war-torn, Middle-Eastern, Arabic-speaking country with more than several parallels to the Syrian Civil War. Local female fighters and regular forces advised by American operators fight against insurgents employing Russian mercenaries and using chemical weapons. The reasons for the conflict are unclear and take place in a variety of environments from deserts to cities to snowy mountains to overgrown hydroelectric dams.
168* The skyscraper in ''VideoGame/MadTV1991'' contains, among many other things, an embassy for the republic of Duban, where sits a stereotypical Arabian sunglasses-wearing bearded guy in a white robe. The country can advertise itself as a tourist/oil drilling spot on your TV, and its embassy eventually gets bombed by a terrorist.
169* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'' takes place in Zanzibar Land, located in Central Asia. No clue why it was named after a real island off the eastern coast of equatorial Africa instead of something ending in -stan. [[ArtisticLicenseGeography It also has a jungle in it, despite none of Central Asia having jungle]] (being a good distance north of the equator and consisting primarily of desert, grassland and mountain).
170* The first Act of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' takes place in a war-torn desert country identified simply as "The Middle East". The "Moroccan Research Team" mentioned in the game's credits gives a clue as to which country this fictional place is based on.
171* The first mission of ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 2'' and ''Metal Slug X'' takes place in a Middle-Eastern town with Arabic writing and scimitar-throwing goons. They do have deadly weapons, though, as seen by the stage boss (a CoolPlane in ''2'' and a large-walking robot in ''X'').
172* ''VideoGame/OracleOfTao'' has an actual land called Qurac (mainly as a result of the author's tendency to adopt tropes), which has sort of a CrystalDragonJesus version of Islam called Sakun. They wear temple robes, not hijab, and only inside the temple (which are very yellow and fluffy). Also, they eat pork and the women are allowed out in a bikini. They are desert traders, but this is pretty much the only similarity.
173* ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'' is set in Shapeir, a desert country inspired by the Arabian Nights and similar myths.
174* ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarriorContracts2'' takes place in Kuamar, which is faintly Syrian. The standard-issue desert environments are broken up by a couple of forested areas.
175%% * ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
176%% ** Sonic's adventures in the [[Literature/ArabianNights 1001 Nights]], as seen in ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheSecretRings''.
177%% ** Earlier, ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2 Sonic 2]]'' put a more modern and technological twist on the concept with the Oil Ocean zone.
178%% ** Shamar in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has this vibe, although it's MUCH LighterAndSofter than other examples.
179* Not one but two Quracs feature in ''VideoGame/StrikeFighters'', both as primary protagonist (USA-supported Dhimar--an Iraq) and antagonist (USSR-supported Paran--an Iran) states.
180* ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': Judging by his Arabic name and movelist, it is almost certain that Algol's kingdom was located in the Middle East. Exactly where is unclear, however. His biography describes him as a king who presided over a civilization completely lost in history. The world's earliest recorded civilization is Sumer, located in present-day Iraq. This would neatly fit with Zasalamel, who came from the same kingdom and possesses a scythe named Irkalla (the Sumerian underworld).
181* ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' has featured two characters from the Middle East. One of them, Shaheen, is explicitly Saudi Arabian and an example of ShownTheirWork, as he is a perfect representative of a Saudi man. This is because he was created with input from fans from the region. The other is Zafina, whose nationality is officially listed as unknown, [[FridgeLogic even though]] she lives in a village located not too far away from Azazel's Temple, which is located in Egypt. She speaks American English, wears {{Stripperiffic}} clothing, and practices a weird fighting style inspired by [[UsefulNotes/{{India}} Kalaripayattu]], of all things. Supposedly, her nationality is kept under wraps to avoid ruffling the feathers of a certain MoralGuardians. The feathers were eventually ruffled, however; Zafina stopped wearing a short skirt in ''Tag 2'' and traded it with baggy pants (although her cleavage and midriff are still available for everyone to ogle).
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184[[folder:Webcomics]]
185* In ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'', while lost somewhere in Eurasia the Circle Band finds itself in an incredibly laid back example in the [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/comic/03252008/ Most Righteous Republic of Thatotherstan]].
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:Web Original]]
189* Parodied in [[http://www.cracked.com/article_17474_the-7-most-unintentionally-hilarious-g.i.-joe-characters.html this]] article on Website/{{Cracked}}, where they sarcastically mention "Madeupbullshitistan".
190* Combat operations in ''WebAnimation/TheDamnFew'' take place in or near The Damn FOB, [[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=BFE/ Bumfuck]], Iraqistan.
191* [[WebVideo/DiamandaHagan Haganistan]] is located somewhere around this region, but its Middle Eastern/South Asian/Central Asian features are not very apparent. It is a dictatorship, of course.
192* The Website/SCPFoundation has [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1173 SCP-1173]], The Islamic Republic of Eastern Samothrace. Which is either an example of EskimosArentReal that convinces you it's an example of Qurac, or an example of Qurac that convinces you that its an example of EskimosArentReal.
193** To explain it without trope-speak, it's a phenomenon surrounding East Samothrace, a [[CrapsackWorld conflict-wracked]] island nation somewhere southeast of Greece, which may or may not exist. Whenever someone hears the phrase "You hear about the thing down in Samothrace?", they will recognize a country by this name and see evidence of it existing (newspaper articles, mentions in history books, et cetera). Anyone who has ''not'' heard the phrase will not be able to see anything (even if they and someone who believes in Samothrace are looking at the same thing). The Foundation isn't sure whether "You hear about the thing down in Samothrace" 'infects' people with the idea of a country called East Samothrace, or removes a PerceptionFilter causing people to ignore East Samothrace's existence, and there was nearly a Foundation civil war before the believers and doubters of Samothrace came to an uneasy peace. [[spoiler: Even the O5 Council is completely split.]]
194** SCP-6140 introduces a central Asian nation with a notable expertise in agriculture, matriarchal traditions, and two Foundation sites. Why's it listed as an SCP? [[spoiler: It's the [[TheEmpire Daevite Empire]]... or more specifically, the Republic of [[{{Countrystan}} Daevastan]], the ''real'' country the Daevites were loosely based on, and which was erased from history in favor of the evil Daevites (who were the creation of a racist Victorian author). A cult looking to bring back the anomalous Daevites [[NiceJobFixingItVillain accidentally removed the device that kept them in place of Daevastan]], resulting in Daevastan manifesting in the present, which everyone but the cult considers a good trade-off.]]
195[[/folder]]
196
197[[folder:Western Animation]]
198* Marzipan City in ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'' has this aesthetic to it, with Persian-style domes, doorways, towers and windows being prominent.
199* The 1980 Creator/DrSeuss TV special ''Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You?'' has Pontoffel visiting Casbahmopolis, a Middle Eastern sheikdom that resembles classical Arabia. He falls in love with a dancer in the employ of the sheik and comes to her rescue when she's locked in the palace tower.
200* Stewie and Brian once accidentally ended up in a version of Qurac in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
201* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' featured several fictional Middle Eastern countries; Alpacastan ([[MisplacedWildlife which, for some reason, is inhabited by llamas]]), Pianostan, etc.
202* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': "Magic Duel" has a nearly throw-away reference to a foreign land called Saddle Arabia. Nothing is really known about it apart from its name and it being a different country from Equestria, but two its ambassadors are briefly seen: they wear pony-clothing quite clearly inspired by the Arabian Nights aesthetic. Interestingly enough they are much taller and slenderer than Equestrian ponies: nearly as tall as Princess Celestia.
203* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' had the fictional state of Carbombya (Full Title: [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Socialist Democratic Federated Republic of Carbombya]]) as a stand-in for then-newsworthy UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}. The country's main resources are oil and camels, its people frequently swear on the lives of their mother's livestock, and is ruled by a paranoid, egotistical dictator (whose similarities to UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi are [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial purely coincidental]]). The degree of racial/ethnic stereotyping in this case was so extreme that Lebanese-American voice actor Creator/CaseyKasem handed in his resignation, causing his most prominent character, Autobot computer Teletraan I, to be replaced by Creator/FrankWelker as the more advanced, visually identical, and different sounding Teletraan II.
204** ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}} was much nicer about it even though Qatar looks absolutely nothing like the dirt-choked slum shown in the film: Scorponok's attack was ended by a phone call to a nearby base from a little town in Qatar.
205* On ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', the space station Gargantua-1 landed in "Iranistan". It crashed straight into a secret hideout where all the world's terrorist leaders were meeting.
206* The ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' version of Qurac is, [[SubvertedTrope surprisingly]], not this trope, but apparently a fairly developed country with a democratically elected leader, and also apparently [[ArtisticLicenseGeography contains a savanna region that resembles Tanzania or Kenya]] (despite [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120318153426/youngjustice/images/b/b2/Qurac_and_Bialya.png an in-universe map]] indicating that Qurac is Jordan and Bialya is Iraq). However, its neighbor Bialya, ruled by the mind-controlling supervillainess [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Bee]], fits much better.
207** Even Bialya somewhat subverts the stereotypes associated with Qurac. It has a highly-advanced military whose firepower and organization threatens even a team of (admittedly young) superheroes.
208** They are apparently equipped with modern first-line U.S. army weaponry up to and including M1 tanks and Predator Drones [[RuleOfCool armed with miniguns for some reason]]. That's not to mention that their queen is a woman who appears to be black rather than Arab/Middle Eastern and tends to dress rather {{stripperific}}ally.
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211[[noreallife]]
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