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    13-Jun-2018

Saving Jordan and discernment in speech - By Abdullah bin Bijad Al-Otaibi, Alarabiya

 

 

When observing the policies of the region’s countries, we notice their loyalty to one of these two: the stability of countries or the stability of chaos. The first approach is led by Saudi Arabia and its strong alliance with the UAE. The second one is led by Iran, Turkey, Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. This is how the region’s situation, which has been as such for over a decade, can be summed up.
 
Jordan’s political position towards Iran has been clear since before the “Arab Spring” thanks to King Abdullah II’s statements about Iran’s crescent and the Iranian snake. However, Jordan’s position regarding fighting fundamentalism and terrorism presented a different model that can be subject to criticism.
 
However, all this should be viewed in context of the capabilities of Jordan; a country that has been suffering economically due to shortage of resources and capabilities as, in the past few decades, it has become a place of refuge for a number of Arab peoples who have suffered from deadly wars and great unrest.
 
The latest Jordanian crisis is due to internal causes resulting from the lack of economic resources, but it also has other important regional triggers. Iran needs to weaken Jordan to compensate its loss in Iraq.
 
Similarly, the Muslim Brotherhood sees Jordan as an outlet for its suffocating regional exclusion and Qatar wants to show the might of its media and restore its treachery, which it thought had helped it make political gains during what was falsely called the ‘Arab Spring.’ Thus, Jordan is a victim of several factors that have threatened its stability and civil accord.
 
Part of Saudi-led coalition
Let’s recall some of Jordan’s recent political positions. Jordan is a partner in the Arab Coalition for the support of legitimacy in Yemen and is a partner in the Islamic Military Coalition to Combat Terrorism. After the biggest military maneuver in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah II and leaders of the Arab salvation alliance met with the Saudi Crown prince along with the Bahraini King, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Egyptian president.
 
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This means that this alliance is the natural extension for Jordan politically and economically. Jordan is also an important partner for one of the biggest new Saudi project — the Neom project which is located on its borders with Saudi Arabia and Egypt and which represents an ambitious dream that will have a major positive impact on all three countries.
 
King Salman bin Abdul Aziz is a decisive king, and the policies of Saudi Arabia support stability of Arab countries. The Saudi king has thus called for a quadripartite meeting to be held in Mecca to help Jordan confront its suffocating economic crisis and strengthen Jordan’s stability and security.
 
This meeting included Saudi Arabia and its strongest ally, the UAE, as well as Kuwait which has been a supporting partner in a number of major crises in the region. The meeting’s aim is to provide urgent and effective assistance to save the brotherly country Jordan.
 
The Mecca Summit
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have formed an alliance that saves Arab countries during all of the region’s tough crises, particularly after the so-called ‘Arab Spring.’ The two countries jointly confronted the challenges that threatened the stability, security and sovereignty of Arab countries; with the political, economic and military power, even if they had to oppose policies of major countries in the world. Recent history is the best witness to that.
 
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Apart from the lack of clarity in the near past, the differences between the parties in the region have begun to appear. The major rearrangement of the balance of power and the strength of alliances have also emerged. The huge gap between the makers of the future and those who are trapped in the sectarian and fundamentalist past has become obvious.
 
It’s now everyone’s duty to specify his position from these conflicts. It’s clear who the savior and the supporter are and it’s even clearer who the bitter enemy is. The Jordanian people’s love for their brothers in the Gulf is clear, and the wisdom of King Abdullah II and his crown prince is also clear. The Mecca meeting will mark the discernment in speech.
 
 

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