Fair and Balanced: American Politicians react to the Middle East Crisis

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Throwing Shoes: A Childish Act

Yesterday, an Iraqi "Journalist" threw his shoes on President Bush in Baghdad. The latter was conducting a news conference with Nur Almalky; the Iraqi PM inside the fortified green zone in Baghdad. The "Journalist" was instantly called a "hero" for his courageous act by Arab people from Moroco to Jedda and the incident drew tens of thousands of Iraqis to the street today demanding his release.

The story also drew attention on all Arab media networks. On Monday, al-Baghdadiya, the network where Mr. Zubidi works, suspended its normal programming and played messages of support from across the Arab world. Aljazeera recieved more comments on the Journalist story than any time before. "Iraq considers Sunday as the international day for shoes," said a joking text message circulating around the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Palestinian journalists in the West Bank town of Ramallah joked about who would be brave enough to toss their shoes at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, another U.S. official widely disliked in the region

Personally, I have never been a fan of President Bush. I actually criticized his administration continuously on this blog; however I think that the incident is childish and regretable to say the least. I wish the "Journalist" used his words as an adult instead of his hands. Unfortunately, I also believe that the incident will continue to reinforce the "angry Arab" image around the globe.
From a logistical point of view, I do not know if the incident will change the way that news conference will be held in the future; not that we had many of those. May be from now, we will see foreign visitors or even governmental officals standing behind a wall of glass when they answer questions from Journalists. One more barrier for free speech and democracy.

رسالة من أوباما

I got this poem from one of my friends. I thought it is interesting. The poem; written by Ahmad Mattar is titled "Letter from Obama" and is sent to the Arab people discouraging them from having high expectations from his administratoin. The poem also took a swipe at Arab regimes that were described as authortarian. It is funny, interesting but invokes helplessness and hoplessness. Let us hope the poem to be wrong.

رسالة بالبريد المستعجل
أحمد مطر


مِن أوباما..
لِجَميعِ الأعرابِ شُعوباً أو حُكّاما:
قَرْعُ طَناجِرِكُمْ في بابي
أرهَقَني وَأطارَ صَوابي..
(افعَل هذا يا أوباما..
اترُك هذا يا أوباما
أمطِرْنا بَرْداً وسَلاما
يا أوباما.
وَفِّرْ للِعُريانِ حِزاما!
يا أوباما.
خَصِّصْ للِطّاسَةِ حَمّاما!
يا أوباما.
فَصِّلْ للِنَملَةِ بيجاما!
يا أوباما..)
قَرقَعَة تَعلِكُ أحلاماً
وَتَقيء صَداها أوهَامَا
وَسُعارُ الضَّجّةِ مِن حَوْلي
لا يَخبو حتّى يتنامى.
وَأنا رَجْلُ عِندي شُغْلٌ
أكثَرُ مِن وَقتِ بَطالَتكُمْ
أطوَلُ مِن حُكْمِ جَلالَتِكُمْ
فَدَعوني أُنذركُمْ بَدءاً
كَي أحظى بالعُذْر ختاما:
لَستُ بِخادمِ مَن خَلَّفَكُمْ
لأُسِاطَ قُعوداً وَقياما.
لَستُ أخاكُمْ حَتّى أُهْجى
إن أنَا لَمْ أصِلِ الأرحاما.
لَستُ أباكُمْ حَتّى أُرجى
لأكِونَ عَلَيْكُمْ قَوّاما.
وَعُروبَتُكُمْ لَمْ تَختَرْني
وَأنا ما اختَرتُ الإسلاما!
فَدَعوا غَيري يَتَبَنّاكُمْ
أو ظَلُّوا أبَداً أيتاما!
أنَا أُمثولَةُ شَعْبٍ يأبى
أن يَحكُمَهُ أحَدّ غَصبْا..
ونِظامٍ يَحتَرِمُ الشَّعبا.
وَأنا لَهُما لا غَيرِهِما
سأُقَطِّرُ قَلبي أنغاما
حَتّى لَو نَزَلَتْ أنغامي
فَوقَ مَسامِعِكُمْ.. ألغاما!
فامتَثِلوا.. نُظُماً وَشُعوباً
وَاتَّخِذوا مَثَلي إلهاما.
أمّا إن شِئتُمْ أن تَبقوا
في هذي الدُّنيا أنعاما
تَتَسوَّلُ أمْنَاً وَطَعاما
فَأُصارِحُكُمْ.. أنّي رَجُلُ
في كُلِّ مَحَطّاتِ حَياتي
لَمْ أُدخِلْ ضِمْنَ حِساباتي
أن أرعى، يوماً، أغناما !

Jordanians prefer Obama

A new poll published yesterday showed that almost 67% of Jordanians prefer Obama to be the next president of the United States over John McCain who receives only 11 % of Jordanians votes so to speak. Jordanians believe strongly that a McCain administration will continue the American's involvement in Iraq indefinitely and will create more trouble and wars in the region.
The poll showed as well that almost most Jordanians do not predict any change in the American policy toward Israel and the Palestinians which perceived by most Jordanians to be biased toward Israel with either of the presidential candidates after the election. Jordanians cited the strong Israeli Lobby in Washington and shared strategic interests between Israel and the US as the top reasons for that. On the positive side, Jordanians believe that Obama has a better sense of the world and would restore America's image around the world; an image that has been damage significantly with 8 years under the Bush administration.

One more day and I can not wait for this election to come to an end; hopefully a happy ending this time.

How similar is King Abdullah to Obama?

Like Obama, King Abdullah is a youthful overachiever who represents a bridge across generational and demographic divides in his country. Both men are 46. They both love Mercedes. Following his meeting with King Abdullah II, the Democratic presidential nominee got a lift to the airport from none other than the monarch himself and in a royal Mercedes.

Obama's buzz hits Amman

Jordan is not a swing state in a White House campaign but surely it looks like it today. US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama had a news conference at the Amman Citadel, an ancient Roman landmark, in Amman. He also had a long meeting with the King who offered an impressive unprecedented welcome to a presidential candidate ever. According to the Associated Press,the king had cut short a trip to Aspen, Colo., especially to fly back to the palace. And that it was the Jordanians who had requested a one-on-one meeting between the king and Obama before they are joined for dinner by Reed, Hagel and others.

Apparently the King who has an unmistakable political intuition believes somehow that Obama is going to be living in the White House for the next 8 years and he wanted to build a working relationship with him. Two things that come to mind here. First, Jordan apparently is becoming more important to the American policymakers regardless of their political orientation or party affiliation. John McCain the presumptive Republican nominee made a similar trip last month to Amman and met with the King as well. Second, Jordan is positioning itself as an asset to both parties. On one hand, Jordan is increasingly becoming a keystone player on the national security front to the US and its war against terrorism; a value that Republicans embrace. On the other hand, Jordan continued to play the diplomacy card with its relationship with different regional players in the Middle East such as Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia as well as Iran; a value that held dearly by the democrates.

In political terms, Obama's- trip is designed in part to boost Obama's image inside the United State. With all of that it is a good trip for Jordan for the above mentioned reasons.

Embarrassing Mugabe: A dictator under pressure

On Jews in the Arab world and appointing the first Arab Jewish envoy to the US

Jews in the Arab world have been diminishing in number since 1948 either because of forces of voluntary immigration or political persecution or a combination of both. The conflict with Israel has undoubtedly been a major factor in their immigration to Israel. Most Arab Jews whom estimated number is 8000 live in few countries; Bahrain, Yemen, Morocco and Tunisia. There not have been many report about these minorities in the news but recently there were two articles that I personally found to be very interesting and encouraging.

Today Bahrain's king appointed a Jewish woman as the country's ambassador to the U.S.today. The new ambassador; Houda Nonoo who is 43 years old is a lawmaker in the Shura counsel and had served three years in that capacity before being transfer ed to Washington for her new assignment. It is noteworthy to mention that the small gulf island is ruled by the Sunni minority. Most Bahrainis are Shiite but according to a new report re lased by the BBC, Bahrain has one of the world's oldest and smallest Jewish communities, at about 50 people.

The other news article comes from the Tunisian island of Djerba, home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities. An American researcher went there to ask the resident of that island whether Jews, Muslims and Christians can live together in peace? A common myth claims they can't. Americans are told, falsely, that Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting each other "since time immemorial," and that their conflict will never end; that they can't agree on anything, so why bother? and that peace is impossible. The article mentioned that Jews and Arabs lived and have been living in that island for centuries and that they get along just fine.

It is my hope that these two examples will have a domino effect on the current situation in Israel and Palestine. May be peace is just around the corner.