US President Donald Trump has doubled down on comments about displacing Palestinians in Gaza to Jordan and Egypt, escalating tensions with the Hashemite Kingdom and possibly leaving King Abdullah II “vulnerable to geopolitical blackmail”, experts warned.
Analysts believe that if Trump leverages aid, Jordan could be forced to rethink its alliances and look to Arab Gulf states, Russia, China, or the European Union to fill funding gaps.
It could also “[force] them to … implement deeply unpopular austerity measures that predictably lead to protests”, said Geoffrey Hughes, author of the book Kinship, Islam and the Politics of Marriage in Jordan: Affection and Mercy.
Much of Jordan’s population, which includes many Palestinians with Jordanian nationality and more than two million Palestinian refugees, was frustrated with the government’s unwillingness to cut ties.
“What might help Jordan is the old-school, and bipartisan, consensus wing in Washington that sees the Hashemites as indispensable to US foreign policy in the region, remembers the help that Jordan has given for decades to various US wars and interventions, and regards this ‘oasis of moderation’ as not worth destabilising in the long run,” Yom said.
“Trump will need to walk back this completely unrealistic proposition,” Toukan said. “If this was to become official American policy, it would undermine not only Jordan’s stability but that of the entire region, including Egypt’s.”
Jeopardizing the alliance between Jordan and the US is a good thing, so they’re probably very pleased with themselves. Just to be clear, there’s no way either Egypt or Jordan are gonna accept Palestinian refugees. If they do that rockets are gonna start flying across the border and Israel will use that as an excuse to invade the territory of these two countries leading to war, or at least the destruction of the peace treaties between them and Israel. This is why Sisi doesn’t act like the American lapdog he usually is. If Trump doesn’t back down he’ll be doing a massive favor for the Middle East by pushing it off the US teat, so I’m frankly optimistic about how this rolls out.
That’s such a bizarre take, but ok, downvote me. “Less US power in the region is a good thing.” Very clear you either didn’t learn a lesson from what’s currently happening with the US coup, are being disingenuous because you’re a troll or foreign interest, or ignorant to what happens if the Mideast is left to its own devices.
A region-wide Caliphate that brings stability and prosperity to the region? That’s what history has to say about it at least.
ISIS is what happened when left to its own devices.
Absolutely not, that’s just straight up Islamophobia.
Blowback: How ISIS Was Created by the U.S. Invasion of Iraq
Any theocracy is a blight on personal freedom. Think more openly before you accuse me of being a bigot.
Is what you said within the context of the entire middle east. As if the whole population of many different people with different beliefs are all somehow in support of theocratic fundamentalism. That is bigoted and ignorant of the history of the region both before and during colonialist/imperialist intervention.
ISIS is no different than Israel or Dominion Christian Fundamentalism. Nor are any of those reflective of the majority of people they claim to represent.
HUH?! Okay my man you know nothing of Middle Eastern history in the last 25 years. The parent group of ISIS, Al Qaeda in Iraq, was formed to fight against the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. Is that what you think of as “leaving the region to its own devices”? ISIS is a problem the West created so fucking take credit for it you… I’ll stop here so my comment doesn’t get deleted.
I don’t know what your referring to because I’m not familiar with ancient history and the last time the Mideast was “left to it’s own devices” had to be before the Romans.
That’s a myth. The last time the Middle East was left to its own devices (that is: wasn’t controlled by foreign powers) was until the 19th to early 20th century depending on which part of the Middle East you’re talking about. From the Islamic conquest of the region in the 7th to 8th century to the partition of the beginning of the race to colonialism in the 19th century the region was controlled by multiple local powers (or local-ish, I’ll admit that the Ottoman empire was iffy) who competed for influence.