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January 4, 2005

All the Comforts of Home

'From bean to cup': Starbucks has arrived!

My daily reading the the Jordan Times (the largest English language newspaper in Jordan) led me to the above article. I enjoyed this article for two reasons: first, is it comforting that I will be able to pretend I'm in America if things get too crazy while abroad but the second reason is because I also found the article absolutely hysterical.

Jordan is in the unique position of trying to balance between the Western world and the Arab world. I know this doesn't actually sound unique because it seems as if every developing nation has this struggle, but Jordan isn't just bargining for aid money. Jordan actually has political power at this point and has the desire to use it. This means that the government simultaneously kisses up to America and Syria, a balancing act that is very dangerous to do.

This is the reason that the article is so funny. After the general information that the first half of the article offers, the second half of the article deals with the controversy that starting a Starbucks in Amman created. It talks about how Starbucks is westernizing a very traditional culture surounding coffee consumption in the Middle East and about the labor problems that Starbucks has had in California. However, none of that really matters because "it (Starbucks) withdrew all of its outlets from Israel in April 2003". So in other words, yes it is destroying our culture but at least it isn't dealing with those darn Jews.

And that right there is what makes me so excited to experience this region from the other side for a while. Yes, I find it kind of silly that someone would actually print that but I also know that it is a symptom of a deeper problem or misunderstanding. Their (the Jordanian's) priorities seem so different that I am a bit scared of what I could find out. Yet, I know that the only way we can ever live peacefully is to eliminate the need for these dangerous balancing acts that have arisen by truly understanding their place in international diplomacy. Hopefully I will be able to bring back a small piece of that understanding.

Posted by rcollins at January 4, 2005 9:05 PM

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Comments

Posted by: Karl at January 5, 2005 1:06 AM