Can Jordan fall in love with Saudi Arabia?
Dynastic alliances don’t always last
When Britain had an empire, Jordan’s King Hussein took British and American wives, among others. Seeking to keep a constituency closer to home happy, his son Abdullah, the present king, married a Palestinian. Now Jordan’s crown prince, another Hussein, is to marry a Saudi architect.
A century ago the Hashemites, who have always occupied Jordan’s throne, were the Middle East’s leading dynasty but later became poor relations to their oil-richer rivals in the Gulf. Some fear that Saudi Arabia under its bearish crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, better known as MBS, wants to turn Jordan into a kind of fief. Two years ago Jordan’s security courts accused unnamed foreign powers (guess who?) of trying to replace Abdullah with his half-brother, Hamzah, a charge vehemently denied.
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "Can Jordan and Saudi Arabia fall in love?"
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