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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

Trump’s AI Video Of Gaza Is Grotesque — It Also Shows Why He’s Doomed To Fail

An AI-generated video shared by Donald Trump on his social network depicts the transformation of Gaza he has proposed: luxury resorts, and no Palestinians. An abomination toward the victims of the war, it also contains a depiction of Trump himself that is the seed of his own inevitable downfall.

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

Inside The Egypt-Jordan Resistance To Trump’s Plan To Clear Palestinians Out Of Gaza

Trump’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take Palestinians in Gaza is the ultimate nightmare scenario for Cairo and Amman, but the U.S. president looks prepared to use his leverage to get a deal the Israelis would prefer.

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Geopolitics

Why Al-Sharaa’s Rise In Syria Is Making Jordan So Nervous

Jordan has cautiously followed the emergence of Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, from the ranks of jihad fighters to a statesman. Amman is increasingly concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood could exploit the rise of Islamists in Syria to sow chaos in Jordan, or the return of extremist fighters to areas on its borders.

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Geopolitics

What Syria’s Future Means For Jordan

Amman and its allies, much like the skeptical secular Syrian opposition, await tangible actions on the ground to match the promises of pragmatist rhetoric from Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who is marketing himself as a statesman committed to building an inclusive new Syria that’s a good neighbor after abandoning extremist ideologies.

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Eyes on the U.S. Geopolitics

Jordan Sees A Trap In Trump’s “Deal Of The Century” For The Middle East

The upcoming challenge is the most serious for Jordan since King Abdullah II assumed power 25 years ago, as the incoming U.S. president will be pressing for a deal that could reshape the whole region.

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Geopolitics Ideas Israel-Palestine War

Israel’s “War Of Extermination” Keeps Burning — Why Has International Outrage Gone Quiet?

Some Palestinians believe the Israel-Hamas in Gaza war has turned into a war of attrition. But it is, in reality, one of extermination. And the people of Gaza are no longer hiding their criticism with the international community that for nine months has failed to stop the war.

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Food / Travel Geopolitics Ideas

A Traveler’s Paradise, And The Impact Of The Gaza War On Jordan

Just across the border from Israel, the Kingdom of Jordan is feeling the effects of the war with both the most personal and economic ramifications.

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This Happened

This Happened — June 10: The End Of The Six-Day War

Updated June 10, 2024 at 12:40 p.m. On this day in 1967, the Six-Day War ended, as Israel faced off against its Arab neighbors, including Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. How did the Six-Day War end? The Six-Day War ended with Israel achieving a decisive victory. Israel successfully captured and occupied territories from Egypt (Sinai Peninsula […]

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

Why Jordan Is In A Bind With Hamas

Iran has some influence over Hamas, but not like Hezbollah in Lebanon or other Iranian-backed groups in the region. Hamas, instead, has more links with Jordan, the birthplace of some of its top leaders.

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Geopolitics

Iranian Airstrikes Can’t Touch Israel, But Are Killing Syrians All The Time

While the whole world was shocked by Iranian drones attacking Israel, which caused no casualties, nobody pays much attaention to the attacks being carried out by the same Iranian drones in northwestern Syria, where they regularly kill civilians.

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Food / Travel

Gùsto! How · What · Where Locals Eat (And Drink) In Amman

An ancestral city that has managed to keep its authenticity while infusing a variety of influences? Here’s a quick guide on where to find the best spots to eat, drink and discover the City of Stairs, as it is sometimes called!

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Israel-Palestine War

Why Anti-Israel Protests Are Fading In The Arab World — But Not In The West

As Israel-Hamas war in Gaza drags on, the momentum for solidarity with the Palestinians , whether individual or collective, has declined. It’s a contrast with the continued anti-Israel demonstrations in Western capitals. The reasons are both external, and internal.

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Israel-Palestine War

Inside Israel’s West Bank Hospital Raid — A Textbook Mossad Assassination

Israeli forces assassinated three Palestinian militants in a West Bank hospital. The operation, one of the boldest since Oct. 7, is part of Israel’s long history of covert assassinations in decades of Arab-Israeli conflict.

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Geopolitics

Here’s How The U.S. And Iran Could Slip Into A War That Neither One Wants

The death of three U.S. soldiers has raised the stakes in a low-simmering, but constant escalation between Washington and Tehran that could explode from the shadows of the war in Gaza — even if by pure accident.

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

Death Trap: Why Gazans Truly Have No Place To Go

Palestinians are being terrorized by Israel’s attacks and constantly shifting evacuation orders. Meanwhile, no country in or out of the region has agreed to take in refugees, and Gazans may not even go, still haunted by the “Nakba,” the mass displacement of Palestinians after 1948. The rising death count is the clearest sign of a truly desperate situation.

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

The Great Powers Don’t Want A World War — But We May Get One Anyway

Ever since Hamas launched its attack on October 7, experts have feared that the conflict, alongside the one in Ukraine, could spill over into a large-scale war between the world’s major geopolitical players. Nikolai Kozhanov, associate professor at the Center for Gulf Studies at Qatar University, analyzes how likely this is and who would benefit from such a conflict.

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Israel-Palestine War

Report: Deal Close For 10-15 Hostages In Exchange For Brief Ceasefire – Mideast War, Day 33

Qatar is leading negotiations for one to two day humanitarian truce in exchange for the release of up to 15 hostages held by Hamas.

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Geopolitics Israel-Palestine War

How Jordan Could Provide A Way Out Of The Gaza Conflict

As the war in Gaza grows bloodier by the day, the search for potential mediators in the region is crucial. Jordan is uniquely situated with a special relationship with the Palestinians, decades of peace with Israel, and the nation’s king with a historic standing in the Muslim world.

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Geopolitics

Who’s To Blame For Gaza Hospital Bombing? The 8 Key Points To Consider

Also, Egyptian president appears to threaten war with Israel over Palestinian refugees, and German chancellor forced to evacuate his plane amid air raid alert.

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Society

Jordanian Women Break Workplace Barriers To Gain Independence

In a country plagued by economic crisis, women are entering professions usually reserved for men. Against societal expectations, they are striving for independence.

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Geopolitics

Nothing To See Here, How Arab Monarchies Hold On To Power

When the Jordanian royal family gathered on April 11 to celebrate 100 years since the kingdom’s foundation, it was a picture of dynastic unity. Alongside King Abdullah was his half-brother, the former crown prince Hamzah bin al-Hussein, who had only days ago been placed under house arrest, following what was reported in the world’s press as a “coup attempt“. The king gave interviews assuring the outside world that all was well and that the former heir to the Jordanian throne had offered him his loyalty. In no other area of the world do royal families dominate politics as much as […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Exclusive: The Secret Global Data Cell Infiltrating Jihadists

We knew the name: Operation Gallant Phoenix. But now Le Monde has exclusive access to details of the U.S.-led, Jordan-based effort to use digital tools to track, capture and convict some of the most dangerous perpetrators of Islamist terror around the wor

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blog Food / Travel

Petra Peddlers From The Past

The woman and the boy in the foreground were walking toward the members of my guided tour to try to sell knick-knacks. There were only two of them selling souvenirs in front of the Royal Tombs, and my fellow visitors and I had the whole Petra site pretty much to ourselves — which I’m told […]

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

In Jordan, A Safe Space For Refugee Fathers

A group in East Amman gives men from Syria and other conflict zones an opportunity to open up and talk through the many ways they struggle.

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In The News

The Next Middle East Trouble Spot: Jordan

The longstanding peace accord between Israel and Jordan ensures stability in the region, but King Abdullah II’s domestic troubles could change everything.

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In The News

SESAME:  A New Accelerator Of Science And Middle East Peace

Modeled on Swiss-based nuclear research center CERN after the 1994 Oslo accords, the idea of the Amman-based facility is to use science as a way to learn to work together in the Middle East.

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Migrant Lives Syria Crisis

How Syrian Refugees Made It To Mecca For Hajj Pilgrimage

There is an economic explanation for why more Syrian refugee families in Jordan were able to make it to Mecca this year.

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blog

Coffee Break

In between visiting the wonders of the nearby city of Jerash and the desertic Wadi Rum valley, we stopped for the night in Jordan’s capital Amman. And scenes like this one in the hotel lobby were as memorable as the country’s ancient ruins and wondrous landscapes.

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

The Shammar, The Tribe Fighting ISIS On The Front Lines

Spread between Syria and Iraq, the Saudi-financed tribal army engages the Islamic State head-on.

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blog

Go Up Moses

In the Bible, Moses ascended Mount Nebo in Jordan, and from this ridge on the King’s Highway, he was granted a view of the Promised Land. Unfortunately, like Moses, I never made it there.

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blog

Rugs And Ruins

Coming across the border after our stay in Syria, our first stop in Jordan was Jerash, the ancient settlement known as Gerasa. Sitting at an outdoor café, we gazed upon the “Pompei of the East” — and the rugs for sale right next to the Roman ruins.

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blog

Trompe-L’Oeil

Although it’s close to Petra, one of humanity’s architectural wonders, this pyramid in Wadi Rum was actually carved by Mother Nature.

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blog

On This Day – November 28

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blog

That’s Entertainment

Back when the Jordanian city of Jerash was known to the Romans as Gerasa, the large South Theater was sometimes used for naumachia. Naumachia is similar to gladiator combat, just that you need to fill the theater with water and add life-size reproductions of warships. The stage was dry by the time we got there, […]

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blog

Historical Stopover

Driving from what was then a peaceful Syria, we stopped in Jerash, in northern Jordan, to enjoy the view of the well-preserved ruins of the Greco-Roman city Gerasa.

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blog

Popular Desert

Although it is somewhat cast into the shadow by the world-famous temple of Petra nearby, the Wadi Rum region in southern Jordan is popular among travelers who want to discover the wonders of the desert and its Bedouin heritage.

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blog

Siq View

Before you can behold Petra“s Khazneh (Treasury), you need to walk — or ride a camel — for about one kilometer in the extremely narrow gorge they call the Siq. It’s the perfecty theatrical entrance to this truly awe-inspiring temple.

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Geopolitics Ideas Terror in Europe

From Nazis To ISIS, Facing Our Own Thirst For Vengeance

The way ISIS shocks us with its evil prompts fantasies of retaliation. How can we make these thoughts subside? What does it take not to lose our own civilization? Confessions of a monster.

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Geopolitics

In Jordan, Thirst For ISIS Revenge Unites People And King

From the capital to the native village of the pilot who was burned alive by ISIS, Jordanians of all tribes and places may mark the first major national Arab movement against the jihadist group.

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Geopolitics Terror in Europe

That Slippery Euphemism We Call ‘Cultural Differences’

The attacks in Paris last week put us face-to-face with the fact that our neighbors may live their lives in ways that make no sense to us. How do we keep this from spiraling toward hatred?

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