Which means that Rubin’s analysis is spot on.
Jordan’s Prime Minister Reads ‘Rubin Reports’ — And Doesn’t Like It
By Barry Rubin
During a recent dinner in Amman, Jordan’s prime minister Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh talked about me at some length, citing my article on Israel being in a good strategic situation. Apart from the various name-calling, insults, and snorting, he could not refute one point I made. In fact, I think he knows that everything I wrote was true. And that’s what scares him and makes him angry.
What particularly upset him was my point that a Sunni-Shia conflict would displace the Arab-Israeli conflict. Jordan, of course, is caught in the middle, being a Sunni country with a long border to Iraq and fearing Iran, not to mention its border with a Syria still ruled by Iran’s ally and nearby Lebanon ruled by Shia Hizballah.
But I think his attacking me was most unsporting. King Hussein read my articles years ago on a regular basis and I have had excellent relations with some members of the royal family and high-ranking Jordanian officials. I even advocated the Saudis and other oil-producers’ plan to let Jordan into the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and give Amman $1 billion.
Fayez, baby, don’t me mad at me for passing along the bad news! And if there’s anything I can do to help Jordan not be taken over by either revolutionary Shia Islamists who will want to put you up against a wall and shoot you, Sunni Islamists (most likely the Muslim Brotherhood) who will want to put you up against a wall and shoot you, or al-Qaida which won’t even bother with the wall.
Also, we do have a spare guest room and you can be here within three hours by car.
