Jordan: In the Eye of the Storm

By Kent R. Kroeger (NuQum.com, October 26, 2019)

Source: GDELT Project

Amman, Jordan rests in the middle of it all

Human settlements in Amman, Jordan date back over 9,000 years, but the city today doesn’t look a day over 200-years-old.

Soviet-era Russian proverb: To learn about someone’s politics, avoid talking politics.

When traveling abroad, it is advisable to avoid conversations about politics, particularly in a country like Jordan which, despite the generally laid back demeanor of its citizens, is still a constitutional monarchy where political speech and press freedoms are significantly constrained. The democracy watchdog group, Freedom House, classifies Jordan as only ‘partly free,’ scoring the country a 37 out of 100 on their Freedom Index. In its 2019 report on worldwide press freedom, Reporters without Borders (RWB) ranked Jordan 130th out 180 countries (Afghanistan ranks higher than Jordan on the RWB’s Press Freedom Index).

Jabal el-Hussein Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan (Photo by Christopher Lee, Public Radio Int’l)

Jabal el-Hussein Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan (Photo by: Hasan Isawi)

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (2018)

Jordanian Teachers March in Amman, Jordan in September 2019 (Photo by Khalil Mazraawi/AFP)