Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Shallow columnist

So the shallow columnists wrote from Amman, Jordan.  I saw that and assumed that he would be writing about the turmoil and conflict in Jordan and the appointment of a new government to maintain corruption and to preserve tribal political dominance.  I was wrong.  Those political developments did not matter.  He was busy with this:  "Fortunately, there is another Arab Spring going on alongside the drama in the streets of Cairo and Damascus. It is an explosion of start-ups by young Arab techies. Ground zero is a complex of buildings here in the heart of Amman. The site was built to be the headquarters of the Jordanian Army, but, at the last minute, King Abdullah ordered the army elsewhere, renamed the complex “The Business Park,” and declared it a special economic zone. The multistory army buildings now carry big signs that say “Microsoft,” “H.P.,” “Samsung” and “Cisco.” But it’s the building labeled “Oasis500” that really got my attention."  The shallow columnist then said this:  "Only 1 percent of global Web content is in Arabic today, but 75 percent of it is produced in Jordan. "  I am very skeptical about this figure, are you not?  


PS And to Fadi Ghandour who was cited at the end of the column: Fadi, being praised by Thomas Friedman is like being kissed by a frog...on the mouth.