Reading through the lines here. Prop up the Jordanian regime as much as possible…or preparing the terrain for the “Jordan is Palestine” lebensraum idea. Whatever it is, the alarm bells are ringing and Jordan is vulnerable. Planners and specialists sounds like diplo-speak for military trained anti-insurrectionist experts on the ground to assess and beyond. Make sure they have some hellcat motorcycles in stock…
—If this speech is any indication of the quality of Romney’s thinking on foreign policy, then we should worry. It was not sophisticated in describing the complex aspirations of the people of the Middle East. It was not accurate in describing what Obama has done or honest about the prior positions Romney has articulated. And it was not compelling or imaginative in terms of the strategic alternatives it offered. The worst message we can send right now to Middle Easterners is that their future is all bound up in what we do. It is not. The Arab-Muslim world has rarely been more complicated and more in need of radical new approaches by us — and them.—Thomas Friedman—Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/opinion/friedman-what-romney-didnt-say.html image:http://www.zimbio.com/The+Week+in+Pictures+-+August+21%2C+2009/articles/7H7jyzLfVRM/King+Abdallah+On+a+Motorcycle
…The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict.
—The young, but oh so cool, King of Jordan, Abdullah II, has taken delivery of a Confederate Hellcat motorcycle. King Abdullah is a passionate biker (as was his father), and has several motorcycles . He can often be seen in the streets of Jordan riding one of his motorcycles.
The Hellcat is produced in limited numbers, and already has many celebrities riding them. At a cost of US$ 70,000, it’s probably only celebs that can afford them..
No, that’s not his wife in the photo… Read More:http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/01302007151508MWEJQH.htm
The task force, which has been led by a senior American officer, is based at a Jordanian military training center built into an old rock quarry north of Amman. It is now largely focused on helping Jordanians handle the estimated 180,000 Syrian refugees who have crossed the border and are severely straining the country’s resources.
American officials familiar with the operation said the mission also includes drawing up plans to try to insulate Jordan, an important American ally in the region, from the upheaval in Syria and to avoid the kind of clashes now occurring along the border of Syria and Turkey….Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/middleeast/us-military-sent-to-jordan-on-syria-crisis.html?ref=middleeast
Reading this, is like going back over Jean Genet’s account of time with the PLO and the complicity, way back then, between the U.S., Israel and Jordan in dealing with Black September…
—Speaking of Queen Rania’s tweeting – she spent last week on vacation with her family in Italy. With a picture of her husband of 16 years HM King Abdullah, in a leather jacket on a motorcycle, she tweeted “Ok, I am biased, but u gotta admit, my King is kinda cool, no?” A few days later after meeting up with France’s first couple she tweeted “Just had lovely casual lunch with President Sarkozy & Carla at their holiday retreat.—Read More:http://www.examiner.com/article/queen-rania-one-of-world-s-most-influential-women
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end)…The American mission in Jordan quietly began this summer. In May, the United States organized a major training exercise, which was dubbed Eager Lion. About 12,000 troops from 19 countries, including Special Forces troops, participated in the exercise.
After it ended, the small American co
gent stayed on and the task force was established at a Jordanian training center north of Amman. It includes communications specialists, logistics experts, planners, trainers and headquarters staff members, American officials said. An official from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugee Affairs and Migration is also assigned to the task force.
“We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of issues related to Syria for some time now,” said George Little, the Pentagon press secretary,…Read More:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/world/middleeast/us-military-sent-to-jordan-on-syria-crisis.html?ref=middleeast
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