Middle East and Terrorism: Jordan: In Bed With Islamists

 "Jordan: In Bed With Islamists"
by Mudar Zahran
In the aftermath of protests in Tunisia, the Jordanian public and activists groups have been engaging in sweeping protests against the extreme living conditions and inflation, and calling for the resignation of the government.
Amazingly, the Muslim Brotherhood was the only political faction in the country that announced boycotting the protests.
While this might come as a surprise to those outside Jordan, the Jordan's history with Islamic movements suggests an affair that is very different from what the supposedly moderate Jordanian government has been saying for decades.

It is not a secret that the Muslim Brotherhood has always been closer to the government than each side -- the Brotherhood and the government -- would like to admit. For a start, Jordan is one of the very few countries in which the Muslim Brotherhood is a registered charity with a legal political party"
Read the rest here: Middle East and Terrorism: Jordan: In Bed With Islamists
About the author:
Mudar Zahran 

Mudar Zahran, a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, Zahran attended Southern New Hampshire University, graduatng with two masters.  He has served as a strategist for the American Embassy in Amman, reporting to it and the American Embassy in Baghdad until recently.  During his time there, Zahran covered major political issues for the embassy. His work has been reported to senior officials in DC, including the Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Treasury and DHS.

Zahran writes for several Arab media outlets and has been basically banned from many for his approach towards taboo issues in the Middle East, nonetheless, his articles are available on the Arab Times, the most read Arab newspaper online, and they are highly circulated on Arab internet media.  Zahran writes op-eds for the Jerusalem Post. Zahran has also served as an economist and a researcher respectively at the Japanese and the Australian Embassies in Amman. He is considered an insider on Jordanian and Iraqi politic. Zahran is currently a researcher at the University of Bedfordshire, where he will secure a Ph.d in 2011.