Analysis: Jordan's precarious position

Jordanian King Abdullah is in the UK to strengthen the traditionally strong bond between Britain and Jordan and to show his country's support for the US-led war against terrorism.

But Jordan, which also has a major interest in seeing the revival of the Middle East peace process, is in a difficult position.

It is a weak state surrounded by stronger neighbours. To the west is Israel, to the north Syria, to the east Iraq, to the south Saudi Arabia. Jordan has throughout its history been caught in the political crossfire of a turbulent region.

For more than four decades, its destiny was in the hands of King Hussein - the "plucky little king", as he was known in the West - who knew how to win over friends and placate foes.

When he died in February 1999, the throne passed to his son Abdullah, an army officer still in his 30s.

A popular figure but a political novice, King Abdullah has faced daunting challenges both at home and abroad.

Jordan is intimately affected by the Arab-Israeli dispute, both because of its geographical proximity to Israel and the Palestinian territories, and because more than half of all Jordanians are of Palestinian origin.

The collapse of the peace process last year, and the eruption of the Palestinian intifada, have had a direct impact on Jordan, fuelling anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment.

As an ally of the West, Jordan is under pressure to enforce the 11-year-old UN sanctions against Iraq. Yet ordinary Jordanians have deep sympathy for the Iraqi civilian population, which has been hard hit by sanctions, while the merchant class wants to maximise trade with Iraq.

At home, the economy is in the doldrums. Lacking oil, Jordan relies on trade and aid. It has a rapidly growing population of five million - three-quarters of whom are under 30.

Politics are stagnant too. Fearful of internal instability, the king has postponed elections due to have taken place this year and tightened restrictions on the press.

Against such a backdrop, King Abdullah is anxious to make the right moves in the current international crisis, triggered by the suicide attacks against New York and Washington on 11 September.

A decade ago, during the Gulf War, his father alienated Jordan's traditional allies, the United States and Saudi Arabia, by supporting the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

With opinion in Jordan running strongly in favour of Iraq and against the US-led coalition, he felt he had no choice. But the country paid a high price, both politically and economically.

King Abdullah wants to make sure that does not happen again. He has come out in favour of the military action taken by the United States and Britain in Afghanistan, despite the misgivings of many of his people.

Nowadays the US is the kingdom's main strategic ally, but relations with Britain remain strong.

This is partly for reasons of history. Winston Churchill, Britain's leader during Word War II, looking back to his days as an imperial policy-maker, used to say he created Jordan with a stroke of the pen one Sunday afternoon.

He was not joking. After World War I, Britain and France carved up the Middle East between them.

The British created Jordan from the patch of desert between Palestine and Iraq, and appointed an Arabian prince as its king. This was Abdullah - great-grandfather of the present king.

A country which began life as an artificial entity, entirely dependent on outside support, has proved surprisingly durable.

But in the uncertain situation created by the events of 11 September, Jordan still needs all the friends it can get.

horn of Ammon
A group of nerve cells within the hippocampus, which are clustered together
in the shape of a horn, make up the horn of Ammon.
G. Ammon - see Classical literature*

"The hippocampus major, or cornu Ammonis is a white eminence, about two
inches in length, of a curved elongated form, extending throughout the
entire length of the floor of the descending horn of the lateral ventrical.
At its lower extremety it becomes enlarged, and presenting two or three
rounded elevations with intervening depressions, it resembles the paw of an
animal, and is called the pes hippocampi." - Gray's Anatomy ©1977, pg. 666

*Alexander
with the horns of Ammon
coin of Lysimachus, c.290

Daniel 8:8-9 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

It is a weak state surrounded by stronger neighbours. To the west is Israel, to the north Syria, to the east Iraq, to the south Saudi Arabia. Jordan has throughout its history been caught in the political crossfire of a turbulent region.

Hmmm?

This post is so good, I almost don't want to spoil it by posting a reply, but here goes: Ammon and Amman search

I don't know much about neurology except for some research into synesthesia, did a search on synesthesia and horn of Ammon and found interesting page about names given to parts of brain
Head of the hippocampus, sea monster, on ancient coin
Broadened the search to "function of horn of Ammon", found that Malamud Sano wrote in 1953 that sclerosis of the cornu Ammonis may cause one to experience ictal psychic phenomena. "Sano K, Malamud N. Clinical significance of sclerosis of the cornu ammonis. Ictal "psychic phenomena." Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 70: 40-53; 1953"

Classic 1902 neurology book re: cornu ammonis and epilepsy
Ictal psychic phenomena search

That leads me back to the shamans of Jordan, ictal psychic phenomena, and thinks the cure for epilepsy is the koran
Did you notice this from the shaman page: On the Female side they include Zaytouneh (olive) (as in Zeitun EGYPT!)

It's an anatomically correct map, imagine that. The horns of Ammon are apparantly what are 'broken' in Alzheimer's patients.

Loss of memory seems to be a cultural problem...

Romans 1:28-32

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

This brings up the question, "What is it that is retained (and subsequently removed) in 2 Thes 2?

2 Thessalonians 2:5-7

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth [2722] that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [2722] will let, until he be taken out of the way.

2722 katecho {kat-ekh'-o}
from 2596 and 2192; TDNT - 2:829,286; v

AV - hold 3, hold fast 3, keep 2, possess 2, stay 1, take 1, have 1,
make 1, misc 5; 19

1) to hold back, detain, retain
1a) from going away
1b) to restrain, hinder (the course or progress of)
1b1) that which hinders, Antichrist from making his appearance
1b2) to check a ship's headway i.e. to hold or head the ship
1c) to hold fast, keep secure, keep firm possession of
2) to get possession of, take
2b) to possess

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Winston Churchill, Britain's leader during Word War II, looking back to his days as an imperial policy-maker, used to say he created Jordan with a stroke of the pen one Sunday afternoon.

Judges 5:17 Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.

Judges 18:29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born unto Israel: howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first.

30 And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

31 And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Genesis 49:16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

Lebanon country guide excerpt "Tyre became the leading state of newly independent Phoenicia, and pioneered long-distance ocean trading. The marriage of Ahab, King of Israel, to Jezebel, a princess of Tyre, shows the strength of the political ties between Phoenicia and early Israel. "
How appropriate that the phoenician trading ships had hippocampi heads at the front of their ships See Phoenician trade and that the kings of Tyre minted Tyrians coins with Melqart, god of Tyre, riding on the Phoenician Hippocampus (seahorse/monster). See punic gods and that the legend of the hippocampus/sea monster is still found in the British Isles:

The mythical Sea-Horse or Hippocampus (meaning "horselike water monster" in Greek) has the head and forequarters of a horse with fins instead of hooves, and the hindquarters of a fanciful fish. It is also known as the Water-Horse or Horse-Eel, and was a favorite art subject in Greco-Roman times, especially in Roman baths, where it is frequently found depicted in mosaic.

In Roman lore the Hippocampus was said to be the fastest creature in the ocean, and thus the favorite steed of Neptune, King of the Sea. Hippocampi are also ridden by Tritons, who look like men above the waist, but with two lower fish bodies in place of legs. They were named after Triton, the son of Neptune, who lives with his father in a golden palace at the bottom of the ocean.

In Scotland the Water-Horse is called the Kelpie. It haunts rivers and streams and, after letting unsuspecting humans mount it, will dash into the water and drown them. In Ireland the same creature is known as the Each-Uisge (Ech-ooshkya) or Aughisky (Agh-isky), where it inhabits seas and lochs and is far more dangerous. After carrying its victims into the water, it will tear them to pieces and devour them, leaving nothing but the liver. If the Aughisky is ridden inland, however, it is quite safe; but the slightest smell or sight of sea water will doom the rider.

Though mythical as depicted in fantastic art, the Water-Horse may possibly be identified with the legendary Loch Ness Monster and its relatives, such as the Lake Champlain Monster ("Champ") and the Sea Serpent, which have been reported in dozens of locations throughout the world. The head and neck of these creatures is commonly described as appearing horselike in profile, and they are frequently actually called "Sea-Horses" or "Water-Horses" by eye-witnesses.

Off of the cafearabica bulletin board humor section:

How to be a Jordanian: be british!

translate the jordanian national anthem into english and what do you get? the :british national anthem

:their currency is the same color as the british currency

:jordanian police uniforms are the same as british

:no memebr of the royal family studies in jordan. jordanian schools and
:univrsitirs are so bad that jordanians study in lebanon an syria and america.

:how to be jorDUHnian? drink tea and sing "rule britania"

>>>The brains of people with Alzheimer's show two characteristic changes: the appearance of neurofibrillary tangles and of neuritic or amyloid plaques. While the amyloid plaques are distributed rather homogeneously, they are a little worse in the back of the brain. But the pattern of neurofibrillary tangles form a kind of a mosaic, with the hippocampus being the hardest hit area. The hippocampus serves as the "record button" of the brain. When the hippocampus is full of neurofibrillary tangles, the record button doesn't work: A person cannot learn new material, but the old tapes can still be taken off the shelf and replayed. This leads to the common description that childhood memories are intact but memory of recent events--where I parked my car, what question I just asked, where I put my keys--is lost in a person with Alzheimer's.<<<

http://www.asaging.org/am/cia2/alzheimer.html

Amos 8:11-12 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Kind of like searching in vain for those car keys?

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