The king talks reform but doesn’t want to usurp his powqer.. Nowhere in this article are the Palestinians mention. The king has imposed a blackout on mentioning them. Any reference to Jordanians is not intended to include Palestinians among them. The Palestinians are getting ready to rumble. Ted Belman
Jordan swears in a cabinet, led by Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh and tasked with pushing for reforms.
By Elad Benari, INN
Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Wednesday swore in a cabinet tasked with pushing for reforms, AFP reported.
The new cabinet is led by Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh and includes 30 people, 20 of whom are newcomers. One woman, Nadia Hashem, was appointed state minister for women’s affairs, the report said.
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The king appointed Tarawneh last week, after the resignation of 62-year-old Awn Khasawneh, an International Court of Justice judge who formed his cabinet last October and resigned just six months later.
The king asked Tarawneh to form a government for “a limited transitional period” to pave the way for polls before the end of 2012. According to AFP, he accused Khasawneh of being too slow, as Jordan “cannot afford any delay in achieving the needed reform.”
Political analyst Oreib Rintawi, who heads the Amman-based Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies, rejected the idea that the new cabinet will push for reforms.
“The resignation of Khasawneh and the designation of Tarawneh… do not send reassuring messages about reform,” he told AFP. “This does not help people believe that we are having a genuine reform process. I think Jordan will witness heated debate in the coming months between the government and opposition, mainly the Islamists, who got the message clearly.”
Tarawneh pledged his cabinet would be “a government of reforms that embodies your majesty’s vision to guarantee the holding of parliamentary elections.”
He added, “The electoral law is the backbone of political reform. My government will work with MPs to produce a law that will meet the demands of all Jordanians and build the foundation for parliamentary governments.”
Jordanians have been demonstrating since January of last year, demanding sweeping political and economic reforms as well as an end to corruption, as part of the Arab Spring protests.
King Abdullah II has promised Jordanians some reforms, including a “future” government that will be elected instead of appointed by the king. The king appoints his cabinet ministers and can dissolve parliament, which is elected by the people. Those reforms have been slow in being implemented.
All this talk of “reform”. I doubt that even a few of those bandying about that word, have any idea what they’re talking about. “Reform” implies that the thing being “reformed” (1) had a certain form to start with, and (2) is being changed into a new form.
What form has the Arab world had up to now? A Muslim society, taking Quran as a given and dedicated to the Islamization of the rest of the world.
Whatg form do these people want it to take on? Let me guess:
1. A Jewish form? Should the Arabs convert to Judaism? I honestly believe the Arabs are more receptive to this idea than the Jews are. It won’t happen.
2. A Christian form? Even most of the Christians have rejected this form. The Christian EU has even rejected the Pope’s recommendation that they describe themselves a a “Christian” union, and they are openly courting Turkish and Albanian (i.e. “Muslim” membership). So far, those states have fallen short of EU criteria for membership, but those criteria do not include anything about Christian character. I think if an Arab state became truly Christian, the Europeans and Americans would waste no time in sending agents there to overthrow it.
3. A European form? I think this is what a lot of people have in mind: Turn the Middle East into an extension of Europe. God forbid that this should happen. All Israel needs is an expanded France, telling them what a “Sh_tty Little Contry” they are! The EU is FAR more dangerous to Israel than the Arab League; because I think a majority of Israelis would JOIN it if given a chance (and some money). Very few Israelis, on the other hand, seriously want to be part of the Arab League.
4. Pick your choose: A Communist form? A Buddhist form? A Japanese form, complete with Shinto shrines? None of these are practical; though a Buddhist Jordan might be preferable to what is there now.
What do these people want and expect? Democracy? In its most perfect form, democracy gives power to the people, and expression to their innermost desires. Do we want the Arab people to be free to express their innermost desires? I don’t see democracy as a significant departure from what has been in the Arab world all along: Once the ballots, real or imaginary, are counted, the people end up with an Islamic ruler — which, as history shows us, is equivalent to a despotic, undemocratic ruler, whether that ruler is an indifidual president, imam or caliph, or a committee or council like the Taliban. In other words, reform into “democracy” essentially means no reform at all.