Jordan's most popular banned books

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Monday, November 15, 2010 - 11:12 AM

These are the most requested books at a store in Amman, Jordan, that specializes in banned books:

  • The late Iranian writer Ali Dashti's 23 Years, "which questions miracles ascribed to Muhammad in the Koran," according to this interesting article in the poor old Los Angeles Times by Borzou Daragahi. Here's a free download.
  • Egyptian writer Khaled Qashtin's The Joke in the Arab World, "a sarcastic view of the Middle East, its rulers and customs."

Interesting that religion and culture play the role there that books about sex once did here.

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EXPLORE:MIDDLE EAST, CULTURE, JORDAN

U.S. spying: The 61st largest country

Posted By Thomas E. Ricks Friday, October 29, 2010 - 11:25 AM

I see where the U.S. government has disclosed that its total intelligence budget is $80.1 billion. (I was surprised to see that the military chunk of that is so big -- $27 billion. I am guessing that a lot of that goes to satellites, probably the part of defense spending most neglected by reporters.) That means the U.S. intelligence community as a whole has a larger economy than any these countries, going by the IMF's estimates for nominal GDP, 2009:

  • Angola
  • Croatia
  • Iraq
  • Libya
  • Ecuador
  • Sudan
  • Syria
  • Luxembourg
  • Belarus
    • Read on

Salah Malkawi/Getty Images

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EXPLORE:INTELLIGENCE, JORDAN, MILITARY

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military for the Washington Post from 2000 through 2008.

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