Jordan's Royal Family: Why so much drama?

Now King Abdullah's son has Covid:

AMMAN (Reuters) -Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein has contracted coronavirus and his parents King Abdullah and Queen Rania, who tested negative, will protectively self-isolate for five days, the palace said on Monday.

"His Highness Prince Hussein, who had received the vaccine against the coronavirus, showed mild symptoms and is in very good health," the Royal Court said in a statement.

The 27-year-old prince has in the last year increased his public appearances and is seen regularly at most of the important meetings King Abdullah that attends with local and foreign dignitaries.

King Abdullah and Queen Rania will be subject to a precautionary home quarantine for a period of five days. The results of their COVID-19 tests came back negative.

“Attended” Harvard?

He was hot when he was younger. He let himself go.

I had a crush on King Abdullah's brother Hamzah, when he was younger.

He really favored his American mother, Queen Noor. And I'm sure the fact that he was younger, better looking, and his father's favorite, really must have annoyed his older brother (who took power any way).

Hamzah was born in 1980, and he still looks fantastic.

So Hamzah was the "Crown Prince" of Jordan, but Abdullah stole the throne from him?

Why was that allowed?

Sounds like their father wanted Hamzah to be King, and that's what should have happened.

Abdullah is not the rightful king.

I'd be pissed too.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Oh the Hashemites. An impoverished desert tribe. The "royal" family gets all their funding from the US taxpayers. And they spent a huge chunk of it on Queenie's big 40 bday, while their peeps scrape the desert for food and water.

That was an interesting read, R7.

I didn't realize that Jordan's queen was so corrupt.

The usual MidBeast drama. The ruling despot is considered weak and ripe for challenge, so someone does. If the challenger is strong/lucky, then he becomes the new ruling despot, acquiring absolute power/control and the wealth that goes with it.

Abdullah is considered weak by his (half) brother Hamzeh, who's decided to give challenging him a go. The $1.5 Billion in US aid Abdullah receives annually is a powerful incentive. R7's link is typical of despots all over the Muslim world who treat their national treasury like a personal bank account. Since it's not a smart idea to anger the ruling despot, especially one who provides financial incentive to the selective to remain silent and supportive, those "36 tribal leaders" could just as well be part of Hamzeh's plan to take over.

[quote]Oh the Hashemites. An impoverished desert tribe.

Now they are, due to yet another MidBeast drama in the Arabian peninsula, being challenged by the Saud clan. Who were more powerful, and ran the Hashemis - direct descendants of the Prophet - out of the peninsula. The Brits felt sorry for the Hashemis and gifted them with half of mandated "Palestine", which, as the occupying power, the Brits had no right to do. That "gift" became Transjordan in 1921. And the Hashemis have been living off the charity of NGOs and various "international donors" ever since. It might help to remember that Jordan produces nothing and is considered one of the poorest countries in the world.

The youngest brother Hashim is the the hottest of the brothers.

By FAR.

Damn.

I want some of that.

The Hashemites are a tiny people. The current king is a hobbit. Only Queen Noor's sons have some height, as she was tall.

Palace intrigues. Yawn. They have nothing else to do. All Royal families.

At least in the Middle East, palace intrigues involve a few murders/executions. Not the case in boring Europe, where one is sent from Balmoral to face the music with one's head intact. Andrew is the 21st century version of the original Duke of Clarence, and he deserves the same fate.

I'm not sure whether beheading your relatives is better than locking them away in the attic somewhere their entire lives.

Oh dear R16. Who said anything about behadings? Prince George, Duke of Clarence, was given the choice of how he was to be put to death. Of course he didn't want to be beheaded! He chose to be drowned (in a quite intoxicated state) in a vat of his favorite malmsey wine.

I would urge ignoring the article at r7. That's an Israel-based web site that prints all kinds of shit about the Middle East. Fake news.

I happen to adore Jordan where I lived and worked for a few years. But who didn't see this coming. Two half brothers fighting for the Crown.

R18 Yes, ignore the best source of facts about the "country" known as "Jordan". You have lived there, no? So you understand that the King is all but Jewish at this point. He sure does know how his bread is buttered.

[quote] I happen to adore Jordan where I lived and worked for a few years

What's it like, R18?

I've always wanted to visit Jordan and Petra.

How are the food, the people, and how safe is it?

Are there any decent priced hotels that are also clean and safe?

All of these families have drama. The Jordanians have less money and are therefore less able to control the tribes and warring factions. I think the Jordanians also have deeper and broader ties to various interests in the US and UK (and also Israel)-- they spend a lot of time here from an early age, so they are comfortable and adept at operating in the West and using the media.

By contrast, the Saudis and the Emiratis are able to throw around obscene amounts of money to keep the tribes happy and in line. A few of their senior guys spend a lot of time in the West, but not nearly as many. So their intrigue is more contained to the Arabian peninsula.

[quote] the Saudis and the Emiratis are able to throw around obscene amounts of money to keep the tribes happy and in line. A few of their senior guys spend a lot of time in the West, but not nearly as many. So their intrigue is more contained to the Arabian peninsula

Plus, when they want to be entertained by Westerners, they just fly them to Saudi Arabia.

And more...

R20 You do understand Amman is spook central. Of course you can find a decent hotel. And it is easy to find trips to Petra.

[quote]In the letter, Rania was accused of "corruption, stealing money from the Treasury and manipulating in order to promote her public image – against the Jordanian people's will."

The poor dear. She's just misunderstood.

Classic faction politics. This is what led to Anne Boleyn's execution, back in the 1500s. If life was like that now, Rania would have been executed as well.

Rania is of course Palestinian. Her parents are Palestinians. She has not been that interested in promoting Palestinian rights in Jordan, to say the least. She is "other" but in a surreal way, as the population of Jordan is majority Palestinian.

It intrigues me that the living rooms in the homes of that part of the world usually have more ornate drapery, tassels, thick carpeting, window dressing valances and chandeliers than many Italian-Americans' homes in New York or New Jersey. Same decorators?

{quote]Her parents are Palestinians

Rania's father is from Tulkarm. Her mother is of Turkish origin from Nablus. In the 1960s, her father's family settled in Kuwait, where Rania was born. During the first Gulf War, the al Sabahs, outraged that the late Yasser Arafat had given his support to Saddam Hussein (who had just invaded Kuwait), kicked all 250,000 "Palestinians" out of the country, some of whom had lived in Kuwait for generations. Rania and her family moved to Egypt.

[quote] I think the Jordanians also have deeper and broader ties to various interests in the US and UK

The late King Hussein (the current King's father) was educated in Britain at Harrow and Sandhurst, and it was British aid (and his own ruthlessness) that kept him on the throne. The current King, his son Abdullah, spent much of his life in England, with his mother former Queen Muna (born Toni Gardiner in Chelmondiston, Suffolk). Abdullah was never suppose to be King, that job going to Hussein's younger brother Hassan, who was Crown Prince. Until Hussein, dying from cancer, decided to make his eldest son Abdullah Crown Prince. Abdullah, like Bashar al Assad, didn't really want the gig, but duty called, so he answered. When Abdullah first took over the King gig, his Arabic was awful and horribly Western accented. It's greatly improved during his reign.

Times were good then.

Rania's father is 100 percent Palestinian and her mother's mother is Turkish.

Rania's the hottest Queen on the planet.