Queen Rania of Jordan on YouTube

1. Thomas
   April 5th, 2008 at 9:46 am

   I love the phone ringing in the background.

2. Justin
   April 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am

   I believe it is just as important for the Arab world to reach out to young Westerners as it is for Western leaders to reach out to young Arabs. Otherwise Extremism will consume us all.

3. Thomas
   April 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am

   Absolutely. All you hear in the news is McCain confusing Iran with Al Qaeda, along with half the frickin' executive branch. If people knew more about the middle east than what Jack Bauer taught them, it would be a different world.

   What's worse is Iranians love America, and the only way they get on our news is when we talk about launching another preemptive war against them.

4. xander
   April 5th, 2008 at 10:50 am

   Good deal.

5. Nastia
   April 5th, 2008 at 11:07 am

   I don't see how any Iranian child now can grow up without hating Americans.

6. bean
   April 5th, 2008 at 1:08 pm

   It makes me happy to see them doing this, but I hope she and her hubby have great security. They might be making themselves a target for anti-western extremists by reaching out like this.

   Nastia-

   First of all, most that emigrate to America prefer to be called Persian. And it's mostly just the ayatollah and his cronies that hate America.

7. CheeseDuck
   April 5th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

   Stupid Americans.

8. rdubs
   April 5th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

   ha. that stupid americans quote is another stereotype perpetuated by our ahem*stupid*ahem government.

9. roger
   April 5th, 2008 at 2:58 pm

   Neato!! Slicked-up state propaganda commissioned by the Hashemite Kingdom. "Let's include a ringing phone in the background, you know, make it look off-the-cuff, casual, unplanned. We want our target 18-25 yr. old doe-eyed audience to feel like the Queen is just like one of them" ...Sez the $600/hr PR consultant to the Jordan public relations office. Hey Adam, its not a surprise that the Queen and Her hubby are "very keen on maintaining positive relationships with the West", considering the US supplies the Kingdom with $200+ million in annual arms transfers. I think this is probably a good thing (if the Kingdom falls, the Queen and her modern husband's headless bodies will swing from lamp posts to be sure), but must you pass along PR releases without any sort of context? This isn't about her heartfelt appeal to address "stereotypes" of the Muslim world, its about selling Western-palatable Rania to the West, to secure the very tenuous Kingdom. The Kingdom has plenty of money to purchase their own PR, don't give it away for free - at least bill them from Neatorama Inc.

10. roger
    April 5th, 2008 at 3:02 pm

    Correction: headless bodies can't swing from lamp posts without some unlikely additional hardware. They would *either* be swinging or simply beheaded on the streets, if they lose control.

11. Jerse
    April 5th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    I love people like roger...

    You know - the guys that keep talking when nobody cares...

    It's amusing to see what goes on in the mind of a nutcase...

12. Lexiar
    April 5th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

    Regardless of what you think her motive may be, she knows what she is talking about. The world is not black and white, you cannot divide the world into “evil” and “good”. Perhaps you should watch this video of her on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaUlRJ7mVVI&feature=related

13. secret asian man
    April 5th, 2008 at 7:28 pm

    She's cute!

14. Justin
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

    Wow Roger you didn't even get that they were making a 24 reference with the phone ring? I don't even watch the show and I caught that. It wasn't meant to sound "off the cuff" as you put it. But it was a little funny addition.

15. Alex
    April 5th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

    The phone is ringing? Is it 3 AM?

16. roger
    April 5th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

    Hey Jerse, I'm so happy I can keep you amused. Of course you just resulted to insults, and had nothing else to say. Justin, the ringing phone seems meant to appear unrehearsed - she looks surprised, as if the whole piece was put together casually, with a playful friend making the 24 cue in the background. As I said, they commissioned an ad specifically crafted for 18-25 year olds. Agree or disagree with her motives people, but don't be naive.

17. Christophe
    April 5th, 2008 at 11:44 pm

    I agree with roger on the marketing side of it. We would be naive not to believe any of our leaders do something of that sort without planning it.

    Anyway, we should praise Queen Rania efforts to show all the good sides of the Arab world.

    Yet, I believe religious extremism is undermining it. You need strong leaders like Morocco's Hassan II to prevent it, but it means also that they don't have our level of freedom.

    Hope the Arab world has Youtube...

18. Kevin
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:56 am

    Ah the "Stupid Americans" comment. Such a comment is only made by people who dislike themselves or the place they are in so much that they have to belittle others to make themselves feel better about the position of life that they are in. (Of course said people who make said idiotic comments would never admit to it) You aren't the dirt you live under. It's irrelevant.

    And as far as confusing "Iran with Al Qaeda" well they DO work together often for the same goal. Though I should differentiate the Iran Gov with the people of Iran. As I have spoken with MANY Iranian citizens that dislike their leader and what he stands for.

    I would never say for example "Stupid Iranians" because that would make me look like an uneducated jerk.

    It's xenophobic comments like that, that get other people repeating them ad nauseum that starts this nonsense.

    Remember, tolerance isn't accepting another person's or country's views. Tolerance is how you treat the very people you disagree with.

19. SBPrime
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:57 am

    She....she's actually kinda cute.

20. R Pyle
    April 6th, 2008 at 8:30 am

    Let's not forget the King's mother is British and his stepmother is American. So they have additional insight to what will play well in the Western world.

    Not to mention that Queen Rania herself once worked at Apple. So that was probably an iPhone ringing.

21. OddNumber
    April 6th, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    I think it is really quite encouraging to hear leaders from that region actively engaging the outside world and offering a dialogue. I'm sure it was very scripted, but it came off as being very sincere. I hope that her efforts are successful such that other countries are encouraged to do similar projects. The US also needs to do some PR and show people that there is more to us than greed, movie stars, and McDonald's.

22. Kevin
    April 6th, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    "The US also needs to do some PR and show people that there is more to us than greed, movie stars, and McDonald’s."

    I would say those that think that, are going to regardless of what we do. If that is all certain people want see, that is all they will ALWAYS see no matter what you do.

23. Vladicus
    April 6th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    I thought that was pretty cool.
    It seems to me that the U.S. are stuck in a cycle of foul, transparent and high-priced PR. Espesially with politics, it seems like no matter where you look, there is some lawyer chump 'representing' someone who insists you pay attention to them, by reading off a sheet of paper. And saying more or less nothing.
    I would like to say that we (internet assholes) are too jaded to tell the difference between Dubya reading off a teleprompter, and genuine human emotion. Of course the blatant differences are obvious, but where is the line?

24. Kevin
    April 6th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

    It's just not the US. It's everywhere. But people don't seem to see that for some reason...

25. hedwig
    April 7th, 2008 at 1:45 am

    very interesting read of the comments. more interesting maybe than the actual video. the power of words and speech used to be a wonderful thing when people came into it sincere and believing what they were saying- now it only seems to be manipulated by the skilfull to simply get what they want. it's hard to tell the difference on camera, in print between what is real and what is the result of many edits and cuts. i'm pretty skeptical... but i, too, use words and the power of speech to get what i want. what a farce.

26. Lore
    April 7th, 2008 at 1:54 am

    It'd be smart if we saw some other countries doing the same. Educate some of the uneducated...

27. Thomas
    April 8th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    kevin, don't take your foreign policy knowledge from McCain. Iran has nothing to do with al-qaeda. They don't work toward the same goals at all. Iran gives money to the Badr brigade in Iraq to fight AQ. A high-ranking AQ leader recently took questions online, and talked about an inevitable war with Iran and the US. Just because its convenient to think that Iran works with the bad guys, so they must be bad too, doesn't make it true.

28. Kevin
    April 10th, 2008 at 5:49 am

    Yeah Tell that to Syria and the people of Jordan....

    If you want to believe that the AQ has nothing to do Iran you can go ahead. No rain off my back.

    http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,664967,00.html

    "Next week's much anticipated final report by a bipartisan commission on the origins of the 9/11 attacks will contain new evidence of contacts between al-Qaeda and Iran—just weeks after the Administration has come under fire for overstating its claims of contacts between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

    "A senior U.S. official told TIME that the Commission has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 14 "muscle" hijackers—that is, those involved in gaining control of the four 9/11 aircraft and subduing the crew and passengers—passed through Iran in the period from October 2000 to February 2001. Sources also tell TIME that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border. "

    So yes, yes they do.

29. Kevin
    April 10th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Ack I went back and read my post above and it didn't have all my reply..

    Anyhow, that above, plus MANY OTHER documents showing proof that Iran has indeed HELPED and PROTECTED Al-qaeda members.

    And just because "Iran gives money to the Badr brigade in Iraq to fight AQ." Doesn't mean they aren't in bed together. That could very well be Iran making it look as if they aren't part of that group. When in fact, recent history shows that they have been more than hospitable to AQ.

    So no, just because they are both bad guys or that the both work with bad guys that suddenly makes my statement true. The facts about their ACTUAL relationship over the past recent years makes it true.

    No matter how Iran attempts to hide behind it's curtain and pretend no one is there.

30. Ghanem
    April 16th, 2008 at 7:40 am

    All what you correct over a period of 2 years will be wiped off in 2 minutes on Fox or CNN.
    What we need to change the immage is, to have arab youth to be involved in Journalism, encourage them to study journalism. And have them participate in methods of media transmition to the american public.

    Ghanem

31. Ghanem
    April 16th, 2008 at 7:52 am

    THIS MESAGE IS TO THE QUEEN.

    I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO.
    IT IS NICE TO SEE THAT SOMEONE CARES, HOWEVER, WHAT U DO OVER A PERIOD OF 2 YEARS WILL BE HIPED OFF IN 2 MINUTES ON THE CNN AND FOX NEWS. MY PHELOSPHY IS, YOU AND OTHER ARAB LEADERS NEED TO ENCOURAGE THE YOUTH TO STUDY JOURNALISM, GET THEM INVOLVED IN US JOURNALISM, SO YOU CAN PUT AN END TO THE ONE SIDED-BIASED- MEDIA, AND ONLY IN THAT WAY THE WORLD WILL START GETTING THE POSITIVE IMMAGE YOU ARE WORKING ON.

32. Satan
    April 22nd, 2008 at 9:33 am

    "Both Queen Rania and her husband Abdullah II bin Al Hussein {{aka King Hussein}} are young"

    It's actually King Abdullah II, "bin" means "Son of" in arabic.
    Just thought I'd correct that minor mistake.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT