Child abuse in Jordan?

BLACK IRIS blogs about a video [see below] of a child being physically and verbally abused. Queen Rania responds over twitter and promises to look into what’s happened.

AMERICA BEDU provides some fascinating information on American women falling in love with Saudi students abroad – the things they might not know, and the questions they should ask themselves.
For example, has the girl met the student’s family, especially female members? The American might not know about the prohibition on Saudi’s – or stern words of warning given in every school – about marrying or being intimate with foreign women, or that such intimacy can imply a lack of respect.
She writes:

“The American woman does not realize that by having an intimate relationship with her he is not showing her any respect and damaging her reputation. The American woman does not realize that by having an intimate relationship with her he is likely planning on leaving her without much of a backward glance once his term of studies has finished. He will have charming and soothing and perhaps hopeful words but his words will not be followed through upon”
And concludes with some aplomb:

“The female Saudi student requires a male mahrem to accompany her out of the country. Perhaps the same rule should apply in reverse to the Saudi male student. Maybe he should have his mother, sister, Aunt or Grandmother accompany him?”

CALEDONIYYA writes on the irony of how Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” has been stifled by Fatah in the West Bank.
Tunisian flags were confiscated by the Mukhabarat while one blogger asks “the police are in the process of confirming the charge that the Palestinian authority is on the side of Ben Ali and that it also fears the people of the street.”

BEIRUTSPRING quotes Lebanon Now on the “C-word”:

“Compromise blurs. Compromise muddies the waters. Compromise has taken government and the rule of law away from the corridors of the constitution and placed it in the bazaar, where barter and sleight of hand is king. It has paralyzed the public sector, slowed economic development and hastened the brain drain. Indeed, compromise has taken Lebanon from the promise of a new era of democracy and sovereignty to the brink of the abyss.”

The popular singer Macy Gray is scheduled to perform in Israel, but she doesn’t know whether to go or not, and posts this on her facebook:

“I'm booked for 2 shows in TelAviv. I'm getting alot of letters from activists urging/begging me to boycott by NOT performing in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wana go. I gotta lotta fans there I dont want to cancel on and I dont know how my NOT going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?”

A pretty spectacular cartoon about what passes for normal conversation in Lebanon.

How do people arrive at your blog? This infographic from JOESBOX will at least get you thinking about it….