Direct or Connect?
Interesting debate. Actually when you look at it, all the myriad of Middle Eastern carriers operating from MAN are doing little more than LH, KL, AF, SK, TK are already doing from there, and from BHX - that is offering a hub and spoke connection to Far Eastern and Australasian destinations. Lufthansa has only recently reported good increases in carrying from BHX without increasing capacity, and if BHX had more choice of hubs then they (LH) would probably not have done quite so well.
Whilst from spotting and photography point of view it would be great to have all these exotic carriers operating from BHX, I reckon that their absence has probably helped BHX retain the number and regularity of full service airlines services, which in turn supports the West Midlands economy much more effectively than Locos operating to obscure, mostly leisure destinations on the near continent.
More daily services to major European business centres is what BHX needs, and these should be a priority for whatever marketing strategy BHX might (or might not) have. Attracting obscure carriers to offer secondary services to satisfy the Asian leisure market should not be a priority in my opinion.