Royal Conversation V

Note: if you wish to leave a comment, please do so as an anonymous.

(15 minutes Later Dr. Abu Hammour zooms into the Royal court with a folder under his left arm, thick-framed eyeglasses, panting and sweating)
King Abdullah: Doctor Abu Hammour, sorry to get you here today for nothing. I am not in the mood right now. Please come back tomorrow.
Abu Hammour: 7adir, Sidi.


the next day:
Abu Hammour walks into His Majesty's office. Samir Al Rifai and Scott Schuster were also in attendance.
King Abdullah: I apologize for not meeting with you yesterday, Abu Hammour.
Abu Hammour: don't sweat it, sidi. 3al3afieh, Abu Zaid. How's it hangin' Scottie?
King Abdullah: the reason I wanted to talk to you is that I am getting a sense that there will be a deficit in the budget. Isn't there a way we can spur the economy a little to cover up.
Abu Hammour: tsok! sidi. We raised all taxes, introduced new taxes, and we're receiving all the aid we could. There's one remaining source, however.
King Abdullah: what is it?
Abu Hammour: we're still subsidizing natural Gas Cylinders. with the upcoming winter, we could cover the deficit and more.
King Abdullah: no, no, no. kolshi wala estwanat el ghaz.
Al Rifai: b3ard el sal6 ana. I am losing my popularity as it is. Please find another way.
Schuster: If I may, what if the income tax system was a little modified into being a progressive tax system? wouldn't that be fair to all and allow for those with the ability to pay more to carry a bigger share of budget requirements.
(King Abdullah, Al Rifai, and Abu Hammour all burst into tear inducing laughter)
King Abdullah: Release the hounds!
(Schuster runs away for his life)
King Abdullah: Ok, here's what we're going to do: I want you, Abu Hammour, to study converting the whole Kingdom into a Special Economic Zone ala Aqaba. Then, we'll rent out El Ramtha to Syria, Al Azraq to Iraq, and Ma'an to Saudi Arabia. wait...make Ma'an a rent to own scheme. Between Walid and Omar, Ma'an is more headache than Jiddy allah yer7amo thought it would be.
Abu Hammour: 7adir, sidi.
King Abdullah: Exellent! simpsons mr. burns emoticon Sameethers, we're done with Sal6i, call up El Karaki.
Al Rifai: 7adir, sidi.

10 ►I charge thee, speak!:

Anonymous said...

Zinkha

Anonymous said...

I agree Zinkha kteer, and also starting to wonder what kind of destination this 'Conversation' moving towards. It is getting a bit gratuitous. Naturally, all convos have a beginning and an end – at least the ones I am privy to. Know?

mab3oos said...

OK, both of you above are becoming too much of a British snob. I am writing with the average Jo in mind. These are the things they care about and are never allowed to have an opinion on. spare us your unsubstantiated zanakha criticism and write your own, or better yet, try to have an actual conversation with a god-ish figure, such as his majesty.

Anonymous said...

Haha you have quite a temper mab3oos.... i like the idea of the Royal conversation theme, its original but you also need to accept some criticism, writing is all about that... Good luck anyway
, i'm anonymous 1

mab3oos said...

thanks, anon1. I might end it in a couple of post with an interview. as for the temper, if the name wasn't enough of a hint, what else do you want?!

Jano said...

The tsok was smart :)

Anonymous said...

'British snob'? What do you mean by that? You seem to miss the whole point about holding a blog my friend mab3oos; and that is the fact that you have created a forum for debate and exchange of opinions on the issues you blog about, and this environment has to be accommodating and tolerant, feisty one. You want substantiation I will give you that; the attempt to weave political satire in order to address burning national concerns and issues for ‘the average Jo’ is truly unsuccessful here. After segment III this effort turned into tasteless and aimless caricatures and lame comedy. The average “Jo’ also has taste you know. You are only providing ‘nukat’ with description, nothing more. You do not seem to have a direction with this to be honest, I was excited about the idea initially but you really stretched it too thin. I only follow you for your audacity, which is a plus over all. Keep it up. You will not rid of me so easily am afraid with your rebuttal.

Oh, and what does this statement actually mean “or better yet, try to have an actual conversation with a god-ish figure, such as his majesty.” ?

I am anynomous 2 by the way….

mab3oos said...

Anon2,
See, this is the kind of comment I encourage on this blog. I welcome all debates and discussions as long as they're specific, substantiated, and refrain from baseless personal attacks. I agree with you that IV and V weren't as good as the first 3. But, in all 5 I tried to tackle a specific issue. Be it DC ambassador, economy, or crimes against women, I have always tried to be as funny as I could without ذم و قدح. it isn't easy, believe me. and just to let you know, this particular post was the most viewed and emailed post I have ever written.
PS: RE: God-ish figure comment, what I meant was that you (or anybody else for that matter) will never be able to have a candid, no red lines interview with king Abdullah. The last time an interview happened in Jordan was carried out by Petra News agency. You can imagine the polishing and editing that took place in that one!

PPS: as for the British Snob comment, you are in the UK currently, aren't you?

Anonymous said...

Mab3oos, Shuklu el Syam m'ther 3alak shwai...'Snob' connotes a behavioural flaw or haughty character, something surely un-connected to geography or domestication or where I am located. Yes I am in UK, but how is that related to anything we are discussing here? I like how you attempt to act all knowledgeable to impress, but my friend you are hosting this forum and such info is readily available to you. So do not brag a lot with that.

Anyhow, I can see that you touch on a number of pertinent social issues and woes and this is appreciated; but you only mention them and touch them on the surface without probing, some sort of anecdotal regurgitation and nothing more. You do not plunge into deep analysis, and how you would like such issues addressed. I would like to see more of you in that sense.

Anyway, good luck with your project, and I am looking forward to the next post of RC-VI !!

PS: Can you really have ‘a candid, no red lines interview’ with any other leader or head of state for that matter? Do you really and truly believe that even in most democratic systems some level of censorship and ‘read-lines’ do not exist? Come on Mab3oos…..You are a clever boy (or girl?).

(Anon2)

mab3oos said...

anon2, check this for snob (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snob) and don't take my comment out of context. I said it to mean that living in the UK seamed to cause you to look at this blog with a condescending attitude. I never bragged about anything in this blog. If you sensed bragging, then you misunderstood my writings, which, by the way, are NOT research quality, will NOT be published in a refereed journal, NOR will they be submitted as an editorial in the NYT.

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