Jordan Watch: Blogging

The Rejuvination of Jordan Watch

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:24:00 GMT

It has been almost three months since my last update for this blog. Actually my last two entries in March were about the critical health condition that my baby boy Zaid was suffering from. He is recovering now, at home depending on doses of medication and hoping for the best options with time. I hope that the worst days of this turmoil are over now and I can start take control again of some main aspects... [read more]

Off to Alexandria

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:47:00 GMT

Tomorrow I will be flying to the beautiful Alexandria to participate and act as a rapporteur in a debate conference entitled "Future of Sustainability in the Arab World" which will jointly organized by IUCN and Bibliotheca Alexandrina. This will be a great chance for me to be back to the massive scientific and cultural icon of Bibliotheca Alexandrina and get another dose of firm belief of the... [read more]

Having Two Blogs is Like Having Two Wives!

Sat, 31 May 2008 23:31:00 GMT

From time to time I like to be satisfied with a few good traits in managing my life. One of them is that I do not leave issues unresolved for a long time and tend to take decisions soon to move on to the next level. One of the few things that I face trouble in sorting out is my blogging habits. As I decided from day one to have a bilingual blog with two separate interfaces I began to struggle with... [read more]

Jordanian Blogs and Lack of Debate on Critical Issues

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:38:00 GMT

The following post should be read with this post from Naseem Tarawneh I was just strating to energize my brain cells to write about a phenomenon I have long observed in the Jordanian blogs, when I read Nassems' fantastic post about the same issue entitled "Jordanian bloggers and blogging about the issues that really matter". The brilliant post and the lively debates in Naseem's blog form... [read more]

Danish Ambassador in Jordan blogs about cartoons

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:11:00 GMT

It is really interesting the see the Danish ambassador in Amman mr Thomas Lund-Sorensen blogging about his own perspectives of the second part of the Danish cartoon fiasco that has erupted two weeks ago. In his blog post he describes the demonstration that was organized by the Islamic Action Front (IAF) and his meeting with the Secretary General of the IAF while praising how the demonstration was... [read more]

Where is Khalaf?

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:27:00 GMT

No, this title is not a phrase in a typical Jordanian soap opera, but a very concerned observation about the 40 day silence of one of the best Jordanian bloggers, the one and only Khalaf. The last post by Khalaf, author of the famous "What's up in Jordan?" blog was on January 12th where he discussed in his typical sracastic and well articulated post the phenomenon of abandoned infants in Jordan... [read more]

Jordan Watch in 2008: Feeling the Value of Writing

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 17:18:00 GMT

It has been more than one month since I last posted on my English platform of Jordan Watch. I have written a few enthusiastic posts about the elections and then went into a hibernation period. Parallel to that I wrote many posts in my Arabic blog and I enjoyed the most open, personal and light ones of those. Last year was very productive in terms of career and professional dimensions where my... [read more]

Jordan Watch Back in English

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:40:00 GMT

About one month ago I wrote a post declaring that I will stop updating Jordan Watch English edition for two main reasons; the lack of time for quality posts and a feeling that almost all of my readers are Arabic, so what is the point in writing in English too? During the kast few weeks I discovered I was wrong in my assessments regarding the identity of the readers. First of all I received a lot... [read more]

100,000 handshakes, and a goodbye!

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 09:38:00 GMT

Anytime during today or tomorrow the total number of visits to this blog will reach 100,000 which is a fantastic figure and a real source of pride for me. I would love to thank each and everyone who has paid a visit to the blog and especially the readers who have posted 1500 comments whatever their content was. Comments and interactivity make a blog very successful. However, this moment in time... [read more]

Giving a shot at Professional Blogging

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:51:00 GMT

The first wave of blogs in the Arab World were naturally based on personal insights and perspectives with a dominance of political flavour in some cases. My own assumption is that the next wave will introduce thematic blogs that will focus on one or two particular issues and be designed as a service oriented blog media. In the past couple of months I have followed the global professional blogs... [read more]

No one is allowed to question my credibility!

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 22:54:00 GMT

"You are an opportunists. When was the last time an opportunist got jailed, tortured, or killed in Jordan? At worst you will get lots of free trips to speak on our behalf in conferences. At best, you will get some really nice “NGO” with US funding or a cozy government position where you can pontificate and keep on attacking political and intellectual oppositions." This is the comment I just... [read more]

On Loyalty and Constructive Criticism: Hussein's Father Case

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 10:04:00 GMT

I guess each and every Jordanian blogger did read and contribute to the horrific family ordeal felt by our fellow blogger Who-sane and his family in searching for their missing father for 9 days before knowing that he was being badly treated at Prince Hamza Hospital. If this ordeal was really bad then some of the reactions to the open publishing of the story online and in print media were really heart... [read more]

Results of the Jordan Watch Survey

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 01:33:00 GMT

Hey folks I want to thank each and everyone of you who has responded to the survey I designed to shed some light on the future of this blog. I appreciate very much the time and effort you have done and it is a fantastic feeling to know the interest from you. The survey started on August 1st and ended on the last hour of August 10th. A total of 31 responses was received from a total of 114 visitors... [read more]

Take the survey: The Future of Jordan Watch

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:39:00 GMT

After almost 17 months of blogging, I feel the need to take a breath and re-evaluate the Jordan Watch blog which has passed through many changes. The main issue remains to be whther there is an added value for this blog that justifies being online. For some blogging can be a hobby or a way to express feelings and opinions, but for me it is an investment of time and effort which I am not looking... [read more]

Are Bloggers competing with mainstream journalists?

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:29:00 GMT

Check out more reflections about the workshop from Ahmad Humeid The German-Arab Media Dialogue organized by the German Foreign Office and the German Institute for Cultural Relations held in Amman last week was an important chance to discuss issues related to new media, blogging and conventional media outlets. Although the German Embassy sent many invitations to Jordanian bloggers only two... [read more]

Off to Berlin

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 19:16:00 GMT

In a few hours time I will be flying to Berlin to participate in a conference organized by the German Foreign Ministry on "Media and Multi-Cultural Dialogue". I will travell without my laptop and most likely will not be able to blog or respond to comments during the next four days. I hope I can come back with some exciting "bloggable" stories. In the meantime I hope you will understand the need... [read more]

Thanks Abu Aardvark

Fri, 04 May 2007 17:47:30 GMT

One of the most intriguing blogs about Middle East you can ever find around is the work of Marc Lynch, professor of political science at Williams College and author of Voices of the New Arab Public (Columbia University Press). The blog entitled Abu Aardvark is the richest collection of views, articles and insights about Middle East Politics. The blog provides a very nice balance between "academic research"... [read more]

Kareem Amer Sentence: A fate for all reformist bloggers?

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:55:00 GMT

I always thought it was a matter of time before the Egyptiam security and religious apparatus crack down on a blogger so harsh to send a message of intimidation to all other courageous bloggers out there in Egypt. The massive movement and impact of the Egyptian bloggers has worried the traditional repressive minds, whether they are in the regime or in the religious oppression institutions. Kareem... [read more]

How to achieve conflict resolution in the Jordanian blogsphere

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:58:00 GMT

It seems that the recent problem emerging from the removal of three blogs from Jordan Blogs aggregator is out of proprtions now and there are grave consequences. It is bad to write something like a UN statement but we are in a need of conflict resolution in the Jordanian blogsphere. Such a problem may have been destined to occure at some time. There is no "command and control" of the Jordanian blogsphere... [read more]

Blogging Censorship: The case of Khader

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:21:00 GMT

A very interesting debate has been emerging on OmAr's blog regarding the decision of the "Jordan Blogs" aggregate to take the "Jordanian Issues" blog by Khader Kanaan off the list, presumably for ultra-open political statements that are directed against the Jordanian regime. The JB aggrehator committee is mainly aware of potential legal liability. Khader is an anonymous blogger whose Arabic blog... [read more]