IT IS sometimes dubbed “the Hashemite Kingdom of Boredom”. That may not be very flattering. But while Jordan will never be an economic or political powerhouse, you can do a lot worse than be boring in the Middle East these days.
Jordan, after all, shares frontiers with both Syria and Iraq. From its foothold there, Islamic State (IS) has ambitions to expand the borders of its “caliphate”. Jordan itself has bred many a jihadist. Some have climbed to the top ranks of al-Qaeda or inspired it; 2,000 or so have joined IS; others are biding their time at home. Jordan is home to 635,000 registered Syrian refugees, not to mention hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and long-term Palestinian residents, many of whom are keen to head to Europe.
Moreover, the Hashemite Kingdom is no stranger to the problems that sparked turmoil in other Arab states. People took to the streets in 2011 demanding that the royal court relinquish some of its powers, calling for corruption to be stamped out and protesting about the dire state of the economy. Little has improved since then. But Jordan’s King Abdullah has so far managed to ward off disaster through a...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1PhGrKD
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