Bush's Visit

Conflicted media reports had circulated all day long from Amman. We do not know yet if the trilateral meeting will be held as scheduled between the King, Bush and Maliki. Media agencies stated that the meeting had been cancelled since the King met already with AL Maliki earlier today. However the timing of this announcement was accompanied with a new memo written by the National Security advisor;Stephen Hadley. The memo which had been leaked to the media this morning outlines steps the United States could take to strengthen al-Maliki, including sending more U.S. troops to boost security in Baghdad but also questions the Prime Minister's ability to lead in Iraq. In brief, America is losing confidence in him. He is weak home and overseas and with the current security situation in Iraq, all indications point out that his time in office will be very short.

Along with the visit, thousands of Jordanians are planing to protest Bush's visit to the kingdom. Bush's unpopularity in Jordan does not surprises anybody including him, but Jordanians need to understand that with two or potentially three civil wars erupting closely to its borders, the US financial and military support is essential for our national security. If "Jordan is first"; a slogan that we all believe in, then all these protests should be civil and peaceful. Jordan's image and reputation as a secure and hostpitable state are tested today and the government should protect this image with all means. May be Mahmoud Abbas was right after all when he said that bread comes before democracy.

Security first

France and Spain presented a brand new Peace plan. The new initiative aims to replace a long list of failed agreements between Israel and the Palestinians that include: Madrid Peace conference, Oslo agreement, the road-map, the Arab league peace initiative and others which I can not remember now. The new initiative has five parts: an immediate cease-fire, a Palestinian unity government that can gain international recognition, an exchange of prisoners — including the Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the war in Lebanon and fighting in Gaza this summer — and an international mission in Gaza to monitor the truce.

Unfortunately, the new ambitious plan did not mention the "S" word. Now do not go for away with your sick mind, I am talking about the word "security". Obviously without security you can not achieve any of the above mentioned goals. Take the situation in Iraq for example. Currently the Americans spend 1 million dollars/hour on rebuilding Iraq however Baghdad residents still suffer from electricity and water shortage for the fourth year in-a-row.

Particularly, the security situation in Palestine is heading from bad to worse, since Hamas ascended to power. October has seen a sharp rise in clashes between Hamas and Fatah-aligned fighters in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Things are not getting better any time soon as Hamas announced this week its plan to establish a new executive force in the West Bank.

Abbas, Israel and the US can do more to help the Palestinians. Abbas needs to stop being a lame-duck president. There has been a good indications that things might change and Abbas might step up to his responsibilities. He said recently that "Bread is more important than democracy" and that a decision needs to be made to establish "a loyal Palestinian government that will enjoy international recognition, will enable the embargo against our people to be lifted" and allow the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israel has a stake in Abbas' success. For the last two years, the Israeli government refused to listen to Jordan to allow Bader Forces; a professionally trained Palestinian forces that is based in Jordan to get into the occupied territories. Fortunately, the Israeli government is getting it finally. The Israeli government spokeswoman hinted last week the odds of allowing these forces to get into the territories to embolden Abbas' authority is high.

Back to Abbas. He has repeatedly displayed caution in confronting Hamas trying to avoid direct conflict. Apparently he believes in the saying, "If you ain't never pick up the sword, you ain't never have to worry about fallin' on it." How long can the Palestinians afford practising "avoidance" as a strategy, only time can tell.

"Manual-phobic"

According to Wikipdia, the "garbage disposal" or garburator (Canadian English) is an electrically-powered device installed under a kitchen sink between the drain and the U-bend. It shreds food waste into very small pieces so that they can be passed through the plumbing without clogging.

Now as far as I remember, I do not think that we use these strange devices in Jordan or in the Arab World, however things might have been changed by now. Well, we have one at home and the stupid device suddenly stopped working yesterday. Apparently I should not have dumped some papers clips into it!! and that basically took almost all of the weekend.

On the sad portion of the news, I had to put my pride aside to sit down and read the device manual, which is an "anathema" for most men and more so to Easterners men in particular. I do not know how that happened but somehow most Eastern men got the idea on a subconscious level that you are "stupid" if you read a manual. The "I don't need a piece of paper telling me what to do, I'll figure it out myself" attitude is deeply embedded in our inner psyche which is perplexing to say the least.
On the bright side, the mission was accomplished with the help of God, the Wife, and some luck. However, I must admit that the process was difficult and was interrupted with scattered anger tantrums that were associated with some inappropriate language. Additionally, it led to several bends in the Kitchen's wall!! Now, fixing that will be another project, but for now I am celebrating my success with throwing few rotten oranges into the InSinkErator PR333.

The little boy and his sister are dead!

Apparently the little boy is dead
In Beit Hanon, his house was made to a rubble by a missile
his stricken sister laid besides his tiny head

His foot dangles by a thread
Tanks, F16 and cluster bombs
That is to say the little boy and his sister are dead

His face , as if in sleep becalmed but red
his mother rocked him in her arms, the final bed
soon his little pure body will be
wrapped by green, black, white and red

"Israel is sorry," Olmert said
The World:"Israel has the right for itself to defend
Look, if you dare!See? The little boy and his sister are dead

The 1st Mulsim member of Congress

It was not a gigantic Democratic tidal wave but it was big enough for the Dems to gain the House and possibly the Senate. With that all said, the most interesting news item of the day is Democrat Keith Ellison, who was elected as America's first Muslim member of Congress.

Ellison who is an African American did not run on a religious propaganda as one can expect but his victory is something that we all need to celebrate. According to the AP, Muslims Americans followed his camp ion closely and were thrilled to hear about his victory. Some Muslims leaders like Mahdi Bray compared an Ellison's victory to Edward Brooke's election in 1966 as the first black senator since the 1870s.

The truth is that Ellison victory could not have been achieved only by Muslims votes. Christians, Jews, Buddhists and others supported his campaign wholeheartedly because he and unlike other politicians focused on what people have in common that in difference. He even won the endorsement of Minneapolis Jewish newspaper and that is the beauty of the American political system. You can really win people's hearts if you manage to join them together: may be that a lesson that all politicians including those in our part of the world can learn from.

Tomorrow is near

I am not sure how many people in our part of the World follow the mid term American election, but I can not wait for tomorrow. I had it today with all those negative ads. Particularly, I was disgusted early today by a flyer that was distributed by Dennis Hastert reelection campaign. The title of the flyers says " Mideast Jihad leaders urge Americans to vote Deomcrat". In brief, the flyer sited Aaron Klein at WorldNetdaily.org claiming that any potential withdrawal for the American troopfrom Iraq; a stand that many Democrats endorse will embolden jihadists to destroy Israel! How did Israel get into the midterm election, only God knows!?

On the lighter side, I could not help but to laugh at President Bush today. Apparently, he went to support a Republican candidate who is running for a governor of Florida. Well, the guy who I can not remember his name now did not show up for the rally. The incident reflects clearly how Bush is losing his popularity among the American people even within his own party. He really became a liability than an asset and everyone is trying hard not to be associated with him.

The last item of the day is about Saddam Hussein. Well, I am against the death penalty for any human being regardless of his alleged crimes, however I am very skeptical about the timing of the announcement. I believe that Republicans hoped that this news will help to sway voters who are getting clearly disillusioned with the war in Iraq and with Bush's state of denial. Till now, most polls show that the news of Saddam had no impact and that the GOP (Grand Old Party) Republican party will lose the House and possibly the Senate as well. Clearly and as you can tell, I am biased in favor of the Democrats' ideology (pro human rights, minorities, diplomacy, etc). But besides that, I really hope that they will win tomorrow as it is always good to have the political power divided between parties.