Abedalelah Almaala, the VP of the Jordan Opposition Coalition just made the following tweet.
“A statement to the good Jordanian people, all parties and capitals of the decision were informed of the corrective and organizational movement of the Jordanian Coalition for Opposition, and accordingly our private sources confirmed that the political situation in Jordan will remain unchanged for a period of 3 to 5 years.
5:50 PM · Dec 11, 2020·Twitter Web App”
I know him well. He spoke at my conference. I think he is saying that JOC has taken over and will remain in power for 3 to 5 years. Keep tuned.
CORRECTION
Mudar Zahran also tweeted after Abed Almaala did that Abed is not longer with them. In fact he was dischareged two years ago. i was aware of this then.
Mudar texted me yesterday to say “can’t talk”.
I suppose that’s a good thing.
Abed Amaala just tweeted:
Notice that he has created his own organization.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
Thank you for your research. It is valuable to know what is being said.Remember you are not reading a free press. Its all government controlled. So you have to read between the lines.
When Mudar and I were communicating on a daily basis, we had many intelligence agencies listening to our every discussion and looking at all our emails. This was the case for a couple of years.
So it was no surprise to me that he told me that he he wouldn’t be communicating with me for the foreseeable future. Based on our discussions I believed that December was the month when it would happen though he didn’t say so explicitly.
Perhaps Trump’s election travails have cause problems.
Adam I have no take on the situation I simply doing a rapid search online and these were the first articles I found. They do contradict stuff that is written here. Not my take just the reporting from Besa and the second site.
If you want to follow Mudar’s statements, you now have to go to his Twitter page. His facebook page is still up, but has become inactive. In addition to posting reports about the political situation in Jordan, Mudar answers tweets from correspondents on his Twitter page. Most of his political statements and his answers to inquiries are in the Arabic language. There are still some posts in English, but they are fewer and brieder.
I am suprised that he has been “incommunicado” with Ted for the past month. That is a major break with his almost daily communications to Ted over many years. Perhaps at this sensitive juncture in Jordanian politics, he feels there is much he needs to keep secret even from his close foreign friends. Obviously he is convinced that there are important developments going on behind the scenes in Jordan, and he feels needs to keep much of what his contacts within Jordan tell him secret, possibly to protect them.
My opinion of what’s going on, based on my reading of English-language Arab websites, is that the King is alive and physically well, but in political trouble. This is somewhere mid-way between Ted’s view and Bear’s takes.
The Jordan Times, a mouthpiece for the Jordanian government, did report that the King delivered a speech “from the throne” in the Jordanian parliament, and had a still photograph of his speaking from a lectern. However, very few members of parliament are visible in the photo. The JT has not posted a video of the speech. They have not said it was broadcast live. It is also odd that the parliament, or at least the Senate, had already been holding “preliminary” meetings for several days before the king officially opened partliament. And the opening of partliament was delayed after the elections for much longer than in past years before the King opened it.
A few days ago, before he opened parliament, the King held a meeting with many Jordanian “executive branch” officials, according to the JT. THey only published a still picture of the meeting, in which only the King and a small group of officials are visible. Again, no video. However, the JT did report the content of his speech, which seemed to me defensive and semi-apologetic in tone. It also reported on some pointed questions from some of the officials, which were critical of the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, although they were not reported to be have criticized the King personally. Still, it seemed to show that even his own appointed. officials were critical of his performance in the crisis.
My guess is that the failure of the jordanian press to either televise the King’s speech live or show videos of it, and the King’s delay in officially opening partliament, does mean that he is in political trouble. While it is true that his party won an overwhelming majority of the seats in parliament, it is possible that even the legislators in his own party have become critical of his failure to adequately address the economic and health crisis caused by the covid lockdown. It is also quite likely that the few opposition candidates who did not make it into pariament complained loudly that the election had been rigged. The reports that even the U.S. election may have been rigged, some of which did make it into the Jordanian press, must only have deepened the opposition’s suspicions. After all, if elections even in the “world’s great democracy” had been rigged, why not in Jordan, too?
A few years ago, it was widely reported in the Arab press outside Jordan that there was a conspiracy to overthrow Abdullah that involved senior generals, the director of intelligence, and even officers of the royal court. Abdullah manged to survive the coup plot when he was tipped off by a few loyal officers. He then fired or demoted many high-ranking Jordanian officers, several courtiers, and the director of military intelligence. The director of intelligence was also indicted on charges of corruption.
Although Abdullah survived that crisis, I think in 2017 or 18, obviously he could be facing another crise de regime now.
ASIA/JORDAN – King Abdallah once again claims the protection of the Christian Holy Places of Jerusalem (thiis is news from today).
http://www.fides.org/en/news/69213-ASIA_JORDAN_King_Abdallah_once_again_claims_the_protection_of_the_Christian_Holy_Places_of_Jerusalem
Besa Center which is very reliable reports:
https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/jordan-parliamentary-elections/
Mudar has been incommunicado for a month. I just follow his tweets. So far he has yet to tells any detail.. We will just have to wait for events to unforld.
@ Ted Belman:
Have they been able to find the little king? Is he dead, ill or hiding? Whatever happened can we trust the news as reliable?
I will be really grateful if you, Ted, or someone in the know could answer my queries. Thank you very much
Abed purported to speak for JOC. Mudar quickly tweeted that Abed is not longer part of the JOC but he didn’t deny what Abed said..
A few weeks ago Mudar tweeted he was with the Jordan army.
I am waiting for the story to unfold.
I do not get it Ted?? Explain please is this a takeover by twitter from Britain of Jordan?
Would not there be also sorts of press reports if the King of Jordan fled or was arrested and someone else took over the government?
Sorry what has occurred besides for a tweet?
@ mikewise:
Hi Mike. I added to the post.
please post twitter link