Article

2003-01-27 Axis of Evil

Turkey, Jordan Are (partway) Back on Track

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve 2003-01-27 11:56 am|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Hmm... Letting Jordan retake West Bank might not be the worst among all alternatives,but Abdullah might want to watch what he is getting himself into.His dad almost got himself killed in the 70's for thinking he could get along with Arafat and his thugs.

Posted by El Id 2003-01-27 16:12:32|| 2003-01-27 16:12:32|| Front Page Top

#2 I can't figure why Jordan would want it. I thought the Israelis were keeping it because they couldn't give it back... But since Bush is on record as favoring a Paleostinian state, it'd kind of have to be on the West Bank, unless they walled off Gaza and called that Paleostine.

Posted by Fred 2003-01-27 16:36:07|| 2003-01-27 16:36:07|| Front Page Top

#3 >>
Hmm... Letting Jordan retake West Bank might not be the worst among all alternatives,but Abdullah might want to watch what he is getting himself into.His dad almost got himself killed in the 70's for thinking he could get along with Arafat and his thugs.<<

And his grandfather, for whom he is named, did get himself assassinated at Al-Aqsa because he was too willing to make peace with the Jews.

As the Arab rulers go, Abdullah's a long way from being the worst of them, to be sure. Datum: Jordan is the ONLY Arab - let alone Muslim - nation that I know of in which the female royals (e.g., the truly scrumptious Queen Rania) are given a genuinely prominent public role. Not to mention the high visibility of Queen Mother Noor, Abdullah's stepmother and another hottie (his birth mother, Queen Alia, yet another blonde beauty, died tragically in a helo accident in 1977) - and Noor, nee Lisa Halaby, is an American by birth (her father was JFK's FAA chief and CEO of Pan Am). Abdullah thinks very highly of Noor, else why would he have styled her Queen Mother? And more than that, where else in the Muslim world could such an event have taken place?

Posted by Joe 2003-01-27 17:40:46|| 2003-01-27 17:40:46|| Front Page Top

#4 Okay, first of all, anyone have a link on the lovely Queen Rania?

I can't imagine that Israel would give east Jerusalem back to Abdullah, and Abdullah would be assasinated within days if he took back most of the West Bank but failed to get the Dome of the Rock back into exclusively Muslim hands. Don't think this is going to happen, though I'm comfortable with the idea that Israel prefers Abdullah to some crazed Paleo usurping the throne.

Finally, how are we going to deduct expenses from the Iraqi oil trust without the rest of the world, including the NYT and WaPo, seriously pissed? That would seem to confirm all the bleating about "it's the oil." Strikes me that any assessment would have to be modest, and then what's the point?

Posted by Steve White 2003-01-28 00:54:59|| 2003-01-28 00:54:59|| Front Page Top

#5 Apropos of not much, there was a glorious AP color photo of Queen Noor when she was here while her husband was dying. She was out for a jog, in spandex, from behind. I felt kinda bad about liking it so much. I couldn't find it online and lost the paper original, alas ...

Posted by Dan Hartung 2003-01-28 01:22:18|| [www.lakefx.nu/] 2003-01-28 01:22:18|| Front Page Top

#6 A buddy of mine went to boarding school in New England with Abdullah and said that he was a pretty regular guy and a very decent wrestler, sports-wise.

Guys like him, we can only hope, will be the salvation of these Middle East Goofocracies.
Also, I agree that the Jordanian Royal Family knows how to select 'Babe-a-lonians'.

Posted by JDB 2003-01-28 03:54:57|| 2003-01-28 03:54:57|| Front Page Top

#7 The problem with that is that the practice introduces infidel blood into the "pure Arab" dynasty. How you gonna be a master race, when your blood's been diluted? I'm surprised the Arab StreetÂ® has put up with it...

Posted by Fred 2003-01-28 07:43:06|| 2003-01-28 07:43:06|| Front Page Top

07:44 Fred
07:43 Fred
04:48 Bruce
04:20 JDB
03:54 JDB
01:22 Dan Hartung
01:00 Steve White
00:54 Steve White
00:45 Steve White
00:43 Steve White
00:41 Hugh Jorgan
00:23 Rw
00:20 Hugh Jorgan
00:02 Hugh Jorgan
23:55 Hugh Jorgan
23:55 Bomb-a-rama
22:45 Fred
22:17 Fred
22:02 Anonymous
21:19 Alaska Paul
20:06 Anonymous
19:54 Fred
19:52 Anonymous
19:37 Frank Martin