Bialyan nights

I remember in the 90s reading a DC letter column in which an editor explained that the reason why increasingly comics characters visited fictional foreign locations was not to upset the locals if there was a research failure.
Which kind of means laziness.
However fictional countries do allow creators to world build and create gems.

In the late 80s Justice League, writers Kieth Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis did that with Bialya, a Middle Eastern country ruled by Colonel Rumaan Harjavti, a military dictator who had a habit of trying to rile his public against the US.
This era of the League was notably more humorous than previous versions but was unafraid of delving into more serious storylines from time to time.
Harjavti fitted right in.

Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire

Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire

He was inspired by figures like Gaddafi and Saddam. This being the 80s, Harjavti was allies with the USSR, who seemed to barely tolerate his antics.

Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire

Harjavti was only in the comics for a year or so before being overthrown in a coup. However, during his brief run, he would pop up as frequently as, say, the pirates in Asterix.

The Bialyan storyline took a darker turn in the aftermath of the coup with his successor, Queen Bee, using a Leaguer as a Trojan horse for an attack on the team. It sounds hackneyed but Giffen and DeMatteis make it extraordinarily tense and the Queen Bee, being a youthful female leader, opens up more story opportunities and gives a freshness that a military dictator can't supply.

Nowadays it would be hard to imagine a mainstream comic using a character like Harjavti as a figure of fun. Which is understandable, especially this year.
But his appearances were fun back in the day