Paris Hilton, the socialite and celebrity, hugs a camel in Dubai while promoting her reality TV show. (Getty Images)

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At this point, the reviews are already in regarding Obama’s speech to the Muslim world and there’s little I can say that wouldn’t sound redundant. Was his tone different from that of his predecessor - also known as ‘he whose name must never be spoken”? An overwhelming yes is the only answer to that question. […]

It’s a hot and dusty day here at the dead sea but in case anyone’s interested, around eighteen 7iber-trained, young, citizen journalists from all over the Arab world, are right here at the World Economic Forum covering the three-day event and its sessions. We’ve got bloggers, live bloggers, flip cameramen, interviews, watweting and more. Check […]

Talking to a few people recently I’ve discovered that most, including myself, know fairly little about the swine flu epidemic that western media says is going to kill us all. I emphasize western media here simply because I’m not seeing the same kind of attention or reaction from Arab media, and the reasons of that […]

Here’s the thing. Back in December, the world pretty much laughed and cheered as Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at former US President, George W. Bush. And since then, shoe-throwing as a form of political protest seems to have come back in to fashion. It’s being referred to as “shoeing”.
According to it’s Wiki […]

Well the weather hasn’t exactly been great lately. April always seems to be May’s waiting-room month. Meanwhile, the local news hasn’t been very helpful either. We’ve been littered with relatively bad news lately; from suicide attempts to political corruption and other minor controversies. Hence, I thought something a bit more light-hearted was in order.
So, […]

With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology […]

When it comes to the political landscape of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the only thing more insignificant than an American election is an Israeli election. The outcome of these campaigns, which seem to bathe in the limelight of the world stage, tend to have worse consequences for the Middle East almost every time. Both Netanyahu and […]

Apologies for the shortage of posts these last few days but things have been a bit hectic. In fact, I think the past 5 weeks of my life have been pretty incredibly hectic, but suffice to say, pretty incredible.
- At work we’ve been working hard to produce a pretty special issue of Jordan Business, […]

So I’m here in Doha with the British Council which has been trying to launch two interesting initiatives in the past couple of months: a youth research network and a youth advocacy group. Both are fairly bold and relatively unprecedented, at least on the scale they’ve envisioned, so naturally I have to admit I find […]

“My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.” - US President Barack Obama during an interview with Al-Arabiya. Monday, January 26th. [source]
I agree that, generally, Americans are not the enemy of the Muslim world. However, I’m just not sure how to classify those Americans who have big […]

Photo Credit: NYT
I hate sounding cynical. But I’m trying to be realistic here. This is not to say I hate the guy. I don’t even know him. And to be fair, it’s still his first day on the job. But seriously. Looking at how people are reacting to this. Especially the more westernized Jordanians here. […]

How do you define a protest? In the past three weeks I think the word itself has found new manifestations in Jordan. Each one catered to an audience and each one catered to a need. Some chose to go out in to the streets and shout, some chose to light a candle at a vigil, […]

While watching the events in Gaza unfold these past few weeks, I am overcome with grief, and it has become even more dominant once the ceasefire was declared. In the next few days and weeks, Israeli elections will roll on while Gazans will spend this time digging the bodies of relatives out of the rubble. […]

A recent debate I participated in yielded the conclusive statement: “now is not the time for it.” It really got me thinking, whenever there is a crisis in this region, everyone socially is moved into one corner and an emergency circle is drawn. Anyone not in the circle must be punished, broken down, and brought […]

“If Israel continues its unjust offensive and continuously refuses to lift the blockade on the brotherly people of Palestine and the Gaza Strip, the House will call on the government to reconsider Jordanian-Israeli ties. This includes recalling Jordan’s ambassador to Israel and requesting Israel’s ambassador in Amman to leave the Kingdom” - Official statement issued […]