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Regardless of Jordan’s shut ties to america and Europe, Amman has discovered itself strolling a diplomatic tightrope within the wake of Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine in late February. The preliminary response by Overseas Minister Ayman Safadi, two day after the invasion, was to name for a political resolution to the disaster in Ukraine, with none point out of Russia. The truth is, Jordan’s speedy concern was to arrange the evacuation of greater than 1,700 Jordanian college students finding out in Ukraine.
And whereas Jordan couldn’t however vote in opposition to Russia within the U.N. Basic Meeting on March 2, Jordanian diplomacy averted any point out of Russia because the aggressor within the battle. In a go to to Berlin on March 15, King Abdullah mentioned that Jordan follows with deep concern the disaster in Ukraine, and reaffirmed the significance of respecting the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of states. At a press convention with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the king mentioned that Jordan is working to facilitate the arrival of Ukrainians looking for to reunite with family within the kingdom, together with waiving all visa necessities.
Talking concerning the potential impression on the Center East peace course of, he later added that, “We are going to proceed to all work collectively to have the ability to transfer ahead, and no matter is happening in Ukraine, I don’t suppose impacts the imaginative and prescient of the leaderships in our a part of the world to try to resolve this subject and transfer it ahead.” That may be essentially the most that any Jordanian official would say concerning the battle in Ukraine.
On April 2, the U.S. State Division mentioned that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Safadi, who was in New York, to reaffirm the deep strategic relationship between america and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It added that the secretary thanked the overseas minister for Jordan’s steadfast assist for Ukraine, particularly within the United Nations.
Whereas Jordan can not publicly assume neutrality over the disaster, evidently that is what its diplomacy is hoping to attain. However the longer this battle continues, the extra strain there will likely be on Amman to make its place clearer.
The irony is that different regional U.S. allies have already distanced themselves from Washington’s place on Russia with restricted political injury. The leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt have all made direct calls to President Vladimir Putin because the battle started, however not Jordan.
That’s shocking as a result of King Abdullah is the Arab chief who has met Putin essentially the most over the previous 20 years. Whereas he stays one in all America’s closest allies, since ascending to the throne in 1999, the Jordanian monarch has additionally constructed an in depth working relationship with Putin. In doing so he had hoped to create a counterweight to America’s tight grip over the Center East peace course of, which was going nowhere.
However Jordan’s ties to Moscow grew even stronger following the Russian navy intervention in Syria in 2015, which the king was fast to applaud. In Jordan’s view Moscow’s resolution to step in would examine Turkey’s incursion in northeastern Syria and the growth of pro-Iranian militias, particularly in southern Syrian near the Jordanian border. Furthermore, it could additionally forestall a jihadist takeover of Damascus, which might have led to the emergence of a radical militant regime subsequent door to Jordan. And eventually, Jordan had reached some extent the place it might now not welcome Syrian refugees.
The king’s shut ties to Putin had helped in negotiating a de-escalation zone in southern Syria in 2017, an effort by which Washington was additionally concerned. Below that understanding Moscow would be sure that pro-Iran Hezbollah fighters keep so far as potential from the Jordan-Syria borders. Later Moscow would assist the king’s resolution to re-establish contact with the Assad regime, open the borders, and host key Syrian ministers in Amman.
After coming back from his first go to to the Biden White Home final July the place he advised a step-by-step strategy to distancing Assad from Iran and rehabilitating the Syrian regime, an thought beforehand mentioned with the Russians, King Abdullah flew to Moscow for additional talks with Putin. He had additionally advised supplying energy-starved Lebanon with Jordanian electrical energy and Egyptian fuel by means of Syrian territory — a proposal that Washington accepted, though it now seems frozen over regional issues about U.S. sanctions.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine took Jordanian diplomacy off guard, nonetheless. Jordan has a lot at stake in sustaining relations with Putin, particularly the place Syria is anxious. Regardless of its nearer ties with Russia, Jordan is changing into more and more depending on U.S. monetary and navy assist and in contrast to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, it lacks the geopolitical property that give these international locations a larger diploma of diplomatic maneuverability.
The king is scheduled to journey to Washington someday in Could and whereas he’s there he will likely be pressed to make Jordan’s place on the battle in Ukraine a lot clearer. Amman actually hopes that the disaster will likely be over by then. Within the meantime Jordan trusts that the U.S. administration will recognize its delicate place and its want to guard its pursuits, particularly with regard to its understandings with Russia over southern Syria, the place the safety scenario has continued to deteriorate.
In the meantime, Overseas Minister Safadi travelled to Moscow on April 4 as a member of the Arab League’s ministerial delegation that can even go to Warsaw to satisfy Ukrainian officers. Jordan hopes {that a} “balanced” pan-Arab place on the battle will give it the diplomatic cowl to remain its current coverage course — at the very least for now.
Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator primarily based in Amman. The views expressed on this piece are his personal.
Photograph by Hannibal Hanschke – Pool/Getty Photographs/RS/Hannibal Hanschke/Pool
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