Where Is King Abdullah?

Filed 1d ago · Via Foreign Policy · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

The Bandit

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Jean-Adolphe Beaucé / Georges Rouget · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Iran has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at Jordan since February, in what the piece calls the largest attack by a nation-state on Jordanian soil in 50 years, killing three U.S. soldiers at Azraq's Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in July. King Abdullah II has not given a speech or held a press conference addressing the strikes, instead traveling to the United Kingdom and then China.

Domestically, hundreds of Jordanians signed a letter demanding U.S. troops be expelled, parliament rejected a motion to offer condolences for the dead soldiers, and only 12 percent of Jordanians view Trump's foreign policy favorably. Abdullah's alliance with Washington brings roughly $1.5 billion in annual aid, which the piece suggests explains his preference for quiet over confrontation.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A king who built his reputation on being visible has apparently decided that the smartest move, with missiles landing and his own public furious, is to be somewhere else entirely. That's not statesmanship so much as an extremely well-funded vanishing act.

Source: Read the original at Foreign Policy → Scored: The Bandit · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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