King Playstation of Jordan
Lebanese-American academic As’ad Abu Khalil, author of the learned, witty and popular blog The Angry Arab News Service, often mocks Jordan’s King Abduallah as “King Playstation”.
Beyond conveying his contempt for what Abu Khalil views as a servant of American empire in the region and a timid royal in front of Israeli wars and crimes against Palestinians and Arabs, Abu Khalil is making a genuine point: that the head monarch of Jordan is often concerned with games and gimmicks instead of the real duty of statecraft. Abu Khalil’s designation is based on an inside source (a childhood friend in Lebanon) who advises the king and claims that he is a devote fan of the handheld gaming system Playstation.
This is not surprising. Jordan’s king is hard to take serious as a leader. He is often know for consuming his time with seemingly trivial matters for a person with his stature. The king often excuses himself from his country and his duties in order to spend several days riding bikes in California:
The Harley-riding king of Jordan spent at least several days touring Northern California on his motorcycle with American taxpayers footing a major portion of the bill for his security.
And, if not that, he likes to play jokes on American comics:
Or he is making cameo appearances on an awful American show: Star Trek (see above). So now we know he is not only an incompetent, immature and brutish leader with a thuggish and torturing secret police, but also a Grade A dork.
And his dedication of video games is genuine, serious and truly felt. And he may have something to do with this:
There is a good chance that if you pick up an Arabic-language video game, it was made in Jordan.
In the past several years, the country has emerged as a vibrant source of gaming content that is enjoyed across the Arab world.
Now we know why he never has time to express concern for the Palestinians.
