And it is not just America
“WE ARE ALL King Abdullah.” So said the official campaign to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the king’s accession to the throne in Jordan. But the turnout on February 7th suggested that few agreed with the sentiment. Even trays heaped with mansaf, lamb stewed in yogurt, could not rouse large crowds. Two months later the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, held on the Dead Sea in Jordan, also failed to attract the desired audience of global bigwigs. At home and abroad, says a former official, “the king is losing his prestige.”
Other Middle Eastern countries have oil. Jordan has location. It sits at a strategic crossroads, so the West and regional powers have long valued its stability. During the cold war Jordan served as a reliable and moderate Western ally when other Arab states turned to the Soviet Union. It acted as a conduit to next-door Israel, with which it has a peace treaty, when others shunned the Jewish state. America used Jordanian territory to launch special forces into Iraq and as a base from which to co-ordinate rebels in Syria’s civil war.
Content retrieved from: https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/06/06/king-abdullah-of-jordan-fears-that-old-allies-are-ditching-him.
About The Author
