Jordan’s autocracy is preparing for war on all fronts
Judging by the latest stories related to the Kingdom of Jordan, it can be stated that the autocracy of Abdullah II has faced serious challenges, both in the domestic arena and in foreign policy.
It is no secret that in addition to the acute social crisis, political tension is also growing, when a number of prominent opposition parties, where the main force is the Islamic Action Front, announced the suspension of their participation in the elections to the provincial councils and the municipality of Amman for 2022. In addition, the Ikhwans (Muslim Brotherhood) of Jordan rejected the constitutional amendments introduced by the loyalists of the king in parliament.
A kind of sabotage of ostentatious elections is not the only problem for Abdullah II, because no one has forgotten the story of deputy Osama Al-Ajarma, who openly challenged the king, calling him a pig and threatening to “put a bullet in the forehead.” Now the former deputy was sentenced to 12 years, and the reason for Osame’s removal from parliament was his pro-Palestinian position.
Abdullah is well aware that the main opposition force within the kingdom is in the Palestinian refugee camps. In order to prevent a new uprising, the autocracy, on the one hand, wants to “appease” the Palestinians.
For example, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi confirmed that his country would continue to work to mobilize political and financial support for the Palestinian Refugee Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). But on the other hand, the King demonstrates readiness for harsh measures in the event of a riot. So information leaked to the media that the US State Department approved several potential arms sales to allies in the Middle East, including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The hint is clear, if the Palestinians organize themselves for a revolution, they will definitely be opposed by armed loyalists of the Hashemite autocracy.
As for foreign policy, here Abdullah II is puzzled by the neighborhood with Iran’s allies located in Syria and Iraq. On July 25, 2021, in an interview with CNN, King said that allegedly “his country was attacked by Iranian-made UAVs.” These words of the dictator could be regarded as a banal attempt by the monarch to beg the United States for funding for “air defense”, however, the fact that the official Amman participated in the murder of Sardar Soleimani and Muhandis suggests that the autocracy of Jordan is on the list of targets of “inevitable revenge”.
Later in early August, a member of Kataeb al-Shuhada in an interview with the BBC pointed out that Jordan is also considered as a target of the Islamic Resistance forces of Iraq, because of the participation of the autocracy in the attacks of the Americans on Hashad al-Shaabi. As a kind of response to the forces of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, the official Amman had a hand in the return of the “desert hawks”, an Iraqi separatist group based in Anbar.
Do not forget that Jordan is among the pro-American countries interested in creating a “strong Sunni bloc of Iraq” that would be able to challenge the officials Baghdad and Iran. In addition to supporting the Iraqi insurgency, a decent amount of US military equipment has arrived in Jordan over the past year to strengthen local military bases. This is how Washington and Zionism demonstrate to Tehran that “without a fight” they will not give up the king, who is among the key allies of imperialism in the region.
Jordan’s autocracy will definitely not be able to constantly evade the serious internal crisis that threatens the entire region, nor will it be able to avoid conflict with external challenges. The artificially created Transjordan was conceived by the British as an “alternative homeland” for the Palestinians. In fact, from the first day of the appearance of the newly appeared emirate, with the support of the British and Zionists, it turned into a large prison for Palestinian refugees, moreover, in the process of creating the Transjordan Emirate, twenty-one percent of Palestine was occupied.
King Abdullah knows perfectly well that the temporary period of the Hashemite kingdom has come to an end, but he does not stop trying to delay the inevitable end by pseudo-reforms and strengthening his personal army, but even in the West they have accepted the imminent fall of autocracy. The proof of which is the secret leak of information about Abdullah’s accounts in a Swiss bank. Against the backdrop of a growing social crisis, such a throw-in will warm up the discontented masses.
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