The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is sandwiched between Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Land-wise it's a bit smaller than Colorado, and population-wise it's a bit bigger. Between the '48 and '67 wars, with the Palestinian refugees, the population increased immensely. Jordan picked a different tack than Lebanon and Syria, though, and made the Palestinians citizens. No, Jordan is not interested in becoming the Palestinian state. King Abdullah II is married to a Palestinian Jordanian, and the Palestinian Jordanians have all the rights and privileges of a straight-up Jordanian.
Jordan is a developing country, and is very western-oriented. They don't have much in the way of natural resources, just some fertilizer parts, the Dead Sea, sand, and 16 miles of coastline with one major port. The port is getting quite a bit of use these days, moving equipment to Iraq.
Iraq and Jordan have been close for quite a long time. Families move to and fro, and Iraq has provided Jordan with much of its oil. Jordan is now trying to get a natural gas pipeline from the south through it, to get some more energy choices.
Though a kingdom, Jordan does have a parliament. It serves at the pleasure of the king, and the king can (and has) dissolved it on occasion. The parliament can pass laws, and ratifies the king's choice of prime minister. There are six seats reserved for women, and if enough women aren't elected, they're appointed. The king also has women on his cabinet. Interestingly, Abdullah II wasn't supposed to be king, and was in the military (he made it to general). His uncle was to be king, but his dad pulled it at the last minute before he died. Abdullah II's mother is American, and he was educated in the US. He's not allowed to sky-dive anymore, but he does fly is own personal Blackhawk helicopter.
The king very much wants to privatize a good chunk (maybe most) of the government. The government owned the airline, communications, Dead Sea stuff, etc., and is actively selling it off. They've figured out that a free economy is the way to go. And when it's pushed from the top (and when the king pushes it, that's the top), well, folks get behind that. The Jordanians I've met are very smart, principled folks.
Jordan is overwhelmingly Muslim, with 6% Eastern Orthodox, and a few percent other. There are Christians in the government and military. Jordan has some issues with Islamists, and there is some sort of Islamist party in the legislature (maybe 20%). Jordan has made it so they're not going to take over, and lets them blow off steam, basically. They have some popular support, but the king is more popular.
While there are still bedouin tribes in Jordan (like Lawrence of Arabia) the majority of the country is western-leaning. While shorts are uncommon in Amman, the capital, women don't wear burkahs, you can buy alcohol in restaurants, it has churches, etc. Jordan wants to build up its tourist industry, and it openly markets to Protestants and other Christians as a Holy Land destination. You can go to Bethany beyond the Jordan where Jesus was baptized, go to Mount Nebo where Moses saw the promised land, Petra (Indian Jones and the Last Crusade) and so on. I've seen bits of a tourist video, and it felt more like a witness video than a tourist video put out by a Muslim country.
Colorado and Jordan are partners in the State Partnership for Peace (SPP) program, which is a National Guard thing. Colorado's other SPP country is Slovenia, which its had for over 10 years now. I believe Colorado is the first to have a Middle-Eastern SPP country. We have a lot in common: similar size, water problems, and equipment in the Army and Air.
The Jordanian Dinar is pegged to the US dollar, I think at about 0.71JD to $1US. I don't know how they keep it stable, but my suspicion is they don't inflate the way the Chinese do to keep parity. Most of the fees to get into cultural sites seem to be 1JD from the guidebooks. Oh, the tourism site is http://www.see-jordan.com.