What about Jordan?

Is al Jazeera's English-language site going the way of the U.S. MSM?

I've seen plenty of complaints, and have made them myself, on Facebook walls and in Diaspora aspects regarding the heavy focus on Egypt in the MSM when there is in fact very widespread regional dissatisfaction, upheaval and revolt going on in the Middle East. The understandable interpretation of that tight Egyptian lens is that it stems from U.S.-centricism. Egypt is, of course, the States' "second most important ally in the region" and also receives the second-highest amount of foreign aid from the U.S.

This morning I notice a news feed somewhere pointing to a Reuters blurb that follows up on recent protests in Jordan and recent promises made by King Abudullah II to make immediate changes to the government. Yesterday Abdullah swore in a new government. This is an important bit of news, the first instance in the region of an incumbent making immediate changes without huge upheaval, but only more like "vocal unrest", sparking the event.

But what we should want to know is, Did Abdulllah make good choices? Are the people satisfied? Is he also perhaps making good on his old "soft promise" of moving power away from his own monarchy and into the hands of Jordanians? It looks like Abdullah's choices for replaced officials have little to do with any democratic process, and it looks like the newly instated officials are not likely candidates for supporting a truly fresh and democratic future for Jordan:

U.S. ally Abdullah appointed Marouf Bakhit, a conservative former premier drawn from the ranks of the powerful security establishment, last week to replace Samir Rifai, who was dismissed after just over a year in the job.

But it sure is hard to tell from this tiny blip of a Reuters item. It's one thing for the New York Times and Washington Post to have written nothing yet on this event. But nothing on Al Jazeera?

Which really leaves me to wonder if at least the English version of aljazeera.net is now catering to what they think U.S. readers want to hear about. Or is this news organization (for which on most days I actually have a good measure of respect) in general, in any language, giving Jordan scant coverage? Jordan, the country that is housing millions of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees? The country that attacked Israel and thus lost the West Bank years back, but has since cultivated (and perhaps earned) a reputation as being a fairly rational and moderate state? No coverage?

Here is al Jazeera's English home page this morning. Note the choice of articles highlighted in the bullet points below the top story:

Let's summarize those bullet points:

• Egypt
• Turkey (another strong U.S. ally)
• Israel
• Egypt
• Obama
• Egypt
• Egypt

A search for Jordan on the site turns up only stale and slim news.

(I will try to remember to search again later and update as necessary if al Jazeera has added any fresh coverage of Jordan)

Battling our U.S.olipsism

Let us not forget: there is a rest-of-the-world, including places our country has made a mess of.... meanwhile the news today and tomorrow and next week will be only a slicing and dicing our own election results. Evening news anchors had nothing to say about any other part of the world the past few days... meanwhile a young Somalian girl was stoned to death for being raped!!!!, and children live like this in Sadr City (pic above is taken from this LA Times slideshow).

My Fellow Americans --
Everything Obama said on election night about unity, about the health of the whole depending on the health of its parts, applies to our entire human race. A quick check of an image of our Earth as seen from space will verify that, yup, still no lines are actually drawn on it dividing us from any other humans except in our own convenient way of thinking about things.

Let's work to stay informed about the condition of beings on the whole planet. And let's care about it. And do something about it. And talk about it. And insist it is taught in our schools, and sees some exposure in our television programming.

Syrian Raid Ripples

While the media feeds us a one-course meal of election news, over and over and over, who's minding the "Impact of US Policies" shop around the rest of the planet? Almost nobody. So between now and perhaps a week from now when election and post-election fervor finally starts to simmer down, I'll be sharing some spicy international dishes on this blog:

Dateline Nov 2, 2008, Damascus:

(Summary from the front page of Asia Times) The United States raid into Syria has upset every key actor in Iraq. The government, beyond being embarrassed at not being consulted, has come under even more pressure from Shi'ite parties not to sign a security agreement with the United States. The Sunni Awakening Councils are reconsidering their cooperation in fighting insurgents, while powerful tribes which virtually control the border are overnight turning anti-American. As for Syria, it has the power to cause havoc in Iraq.

Read Sami Moubayed's full article.

worldpress.org -- required reading

I was so sad the day the print format of World Press magazine folded, several years ago, and on balance was so glad the day I discovered it had been resuscitated as an online publication. World Press organizes its content around a topic, and presents a selection of articles and analyses from around the planet on that topic, from all kinds of viewpoints.

The "news" put on our plates by American media outlets is phenomenally solipsistic, particularly around election time. Pop quiz for those who digest only the news available from American newspapers and TV: "What's happening in Iran? Czech Republic? Cambodia? Afghanistan, even?" I'd wager you have no clue. The better-informed among American-news consumers might be able to cite a sound bite, and that's it. (Note: I'm including myself in the huge group of Americans currently under-informed on world news.)

Are we even aware enough of international opinions on our ongoing election, and do we have any sense of the impact on our global relations of a President McCain vs. a President Obama? NOT. Instead, all available minutes of news-time on the US airwaves (TV being a much more solipsistic medium here than print) treat us to the SAME 40 minutes or so of today's actual news (and bullshit non-news) repeated over and over.

If you believe that it might be important, or at least interesting, to know what is being thought and said around the world, check out worldpress.org. And if you like what they do, consider sending them a donation!