It has been annoying me for some time now: the incredibly poor English skills of whoever is assigned to translate articles for Jordan’s national news agency: Petra. At first one might be misled to believe it’s a case of typos and a cocktail mix of commonly misspelled words or even the casual neglect of a […]

Well Jordan is fasting Sunday, but all the way over here across many oceans (two I think), I will be fasting tomorrow, Saturday. So happy Ramadan to everyone, who ever you are and where ever you may be. And for those fasting I recommend this article that might help you out this year.
May your fasting […]

Every now and then my big sister sends me a two-liner email to make a suggestion or two on what I should be blogging about. Yesterday her latest email made me laugh. I paraphrase:
Nas,
Write a post about price gouging in Jordan during Ramadan and how these store owners who are fasting while committing this sin […]

It’s the theory that everyone everywhere knows: that we are all connected to each other by at least 6 people in this world. That we are all bound by some large net of destiny in a world where the guy you just bumped into on the street might end up being your boss one day. […]

A few months ago I was wondering if Sajida Rishawai, the would be suicide bomber of last year’s Amman bombings, would actually get the death penalty and would it be a just punishment for the crime. Ashraf Al-Akhrass, the groom of the wedding that was attacked, who pleaded with the court back in May to […]

Recently the Human Rights Watch issued a report entitled: “Suspicious Sweeps: The General Intelligence Department and Jordanâ??s Rule of Law Problem”. The 66-page report was based on 16 cases mostly involving “Islamists”. The report relied mainly on what the prisoners said; mainly torture that ranged from being insulted and suffering from sleep deprivation to being […]

This is Emad Hajjaj’s latest brilliant caricature on the condition of Islam and Christianity lately. He’s actually used this one before (hence the recyclable arrows) back in February of this year to describe the Sunni-Shi3a rift in Iraq. In both instances he manages (as usual) to describe exactly how I feel about both situations.

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I was kind of surprised to see some of the late night comedy shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report take a pretty balanced approach to the Pope’s comments insulting the Prophet pbuh. There was a jab at the Pope’s, shallwe say “misguidedness” as well as the absurd reaction of some Muslims. And […]

This is the sixth year that I spend Ramadan away from Jordan and away from friends and family. On the long list of things I miss about home Ramadan may very well rank number one. I miss all you can eat at Pizza Hut with friends. I miss family around the table. I miss the […]

Well at least it’s colourful…

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Following is the full text of King Abdullahâ??s remarks at the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday:

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Emad is simply put, a genius…

No comment.

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Iranian-American Anousheh Ansari today became the first female space tourist, the first female Muslim and the first Iranian in space. But, according to the BBC, she will also become the first blogger to post from space.
Keep an eye on her blog here.

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Usually for an anti-corruption committee to work properly with regards to political accountability in a government, it needs to work independently of the government, particularly the executive branch, particularly the Prime Minister. Now the logical assumption is that the executive would prefer such a committee to operate under its umbrella so that it keeps a […]

After what felt like the longest summer of waiting I just got to watch the pilot episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and only one word can be used to describe it and its creator: genius. Aaron Sorkin has brought TV it’s latest hit.
Studio 60 is more or less a take on NBC’s […]

Just when you thought Gathafi was losing his sense of humor…
According to the Italian news agency Adnkronos International, Colonel Gaddafi claims Coca-Cola is African. And he wants a share of the companyâ??s profit on every can or bottle sold across the continent.
“The essential ingredients for Coca Cola come from African plants and so compensation must […]