•November 17, 2016
After This Muslim Criticized ISIS, He Was Thrown In Jail, Then Murdered
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The centrality of Islam in Middle East politics can be seen in laws and opinion polls, but that data fails to capture just how entwined Islam and state really are and the destructive effects that ensue. The persecution of a Jordanian writer who shared a cartoon on Facebook dramatizes the problem. The story's location is important. With the exception of Israel, the Middle East is thick with dictatorships, theocracies, and monarchies. Compared with Islamic State, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and many other Muslim regimes, Jordan is somewhat liberal and friendly (it is at least officially a U.S. ally). By objective standards, however, the kingdom of Jordan is a paranoid authoritarian regime. The secret police,
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