New Jordan Government: King Abdullah II Dismisses Government

AMMAN, Feb 1 (Reuters) - King Abdullah of Jordan, a close U.S. ally, on Tuesday replaced his prime minister after protests over food prices and poor living conditions, naming a former premier with a military background to head the government.

A Jordanian official said the monarch officially accepted the resignation of Samir Rifai, a wealthy politician and former court adviser, and asked Marouf Bakhit to form a new cabinet.

Demonstrators inspired by mass protests in Tunisia and Egypt had called for Rifai's dismissal.

"(Bakhit) is a former general and briefly ambassador to Israel who has been prime minister before. He's someone who would be seen as a safe pair of hands," said Rosemary Hollis, professor of Middle East policy studies at London's City University.

"I wouldn't see it as a sign of liberalisation. With his previous premiership, he talked the talk of reform but little actually happened," she said.

Under fire from an enraged public over high food prices, Rifai announced wage increases two weeks ago to civil servants and the military in an attempt to restore calm.

Protests have spread across Jordan in the last few weeks, with demonstrators blaming corruption spawned by free-market reforms for the plight of the country's poor.

Many Jordanians hold successive governments responsible for a prolonged recession and rising public debt that hit a record $15 billion this year in one of the Arab world's smallest
economies, heavily dependent on foreign aid.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Candide33]

04:30 PM on 02/02/2011

"Protests have spread across Jordan in the last few weeks, with demonstrators blaming corruption spawned by free-market reforms for the plight of the country's poor."

So it is exactly the same all over the world, capitalism is corruption.

[randyman99]

06:10 PM on 02/02/2011

it is not capitalism per se that is corrupt, it is the capitalists that cheat their fellow humans who are corrupt. People can be capitalists and still treat others fairly.

[Candide33]

06:08 AM on 02/03/2011

I guess anything is possible but since it has never happened we can only speculate.

[uneeda]

11:48 AM on 02/02/2011

where is madame defarge when she is needed ?

[any mouse]

10:43 AM on 02/02/2011

King Abdullah is a fairly smart man, so it appears that instead of fighting the crowd, he is trying to get in front of the crowd and look like the "revolution" was all his idea.

From the stuff he has said and DONE, it appear that he is very pragmatic and is willing to modify his thinking to avoid getting run over.

He knows that the revolution is coming, but also knows that he needs to moderate the rage on the Jordanian streets against Israel because a war would be very destructive for Jordan even if Israel lost (which is eventually what will happen).

I don't envy him and the precarious situation he is in, but of all the long time Arabs leaders I think he is the most likely to survive for the long term.

[Pundit Commentator]

08:33 AM on 02/02/2011

Watch this. I dare you not to tear up.

http://www­­.youtube.­c­om/watch­?v­=DvoyfM­LO6­rU

“We will not be silenced whether you are Muslim whether you are Christian whether you are Atheist. You will demand your godd@mn rights and we will have our rights one way or the other. You will never be silenced." - protester in cairo on Jan 25.

The original title is "Egyptian Revolution - Jan 25 2011- Take what's yours"

Youtube has already restricted access to the original video. One mirror has 1.19 millio­n views. There are many, many more mirrors.

http://www­­­­­­­­­.y­o­u­t­u­b­­e­­.­­c­­o­m­/­u­s­e­­r­/­­t­s­­­h­aa­­b­an­­­8­8

[RubalKhali]

05:40 AM on 02/02/2011

I asked a Jordanian friend what she thought, she laughed and sais, "they do this all the time, it doesn't mean anything."

[dem 01]

12:14 AM on 02/02/2011

The beast replaced one crook with another, what a farce !

[sirhanrap]

11:37 PM on 02/01/2011

The poor sap looks like a deer caught in the headlines of an 18-wheeler!

[Biloxiblues]

10:19 PM on 02/01/2011

Jerry Mathers will be a shoo-in to play the role of King Abdullah in the bio-pic.

[sirhanrap]

11:38 PM on 02/01/2011

Beaver all around!

[Aussieposter]

08:18 PM on 02/01/2011

King Abdullah 1 of Jordan was assassinated in July of 1951. If the current King wishes to avoid the fate of his namesake and Grandfather, I would suggest that he take heed of the current attitudes in the Arabs streets and change his kingdom into a constitutional Monarchy. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad must also see the writing on the wall.

The problem for the West, in particular the United States and Israel is that as the Arab world seeks out democracy they fear what will be the results of free and fair Elections. One look at the Israeli press at the moment will enable an understanding as to why some have described it as hysterical.

Egypt has acted as Israel’s buffer. It has worked with Israel to allow its occupation of the Palestinians to continue with impunity. While at the same time giving legitimacy to the farce called a peace process, that was without end and as the Palestine papers show continued in perpetuity by Israel.

The U.S. elects Evangelical Christian like Mike Huckabee and thinks nothing of it but views with concern the election of political Islam. Frankly I don’t see a difference. It would seem that a wind of change is about to sweep the Middle East Netanyahu might also want to review the methods by which he deals with Israel’s own dissidents.

[Bernique]

09:28 PM on 02/01/2011

F& F, Aussie. Your post is awesome -- you have the perspective of being "down under", a sober distance. Thanks you for your sane post.

[Tommytom002]

10:37 PM on 02/01/2011

We can not have it both ways. We want to help flourish democracy in the ME but at the same time we are worried about the kind of people that would get elected by the Arab people. How come we have no issues with the Right Wing parties getting elected in Israel but it scares us the Islamists may win elections in the ME.

[STParker]

11:28 PM on 02/01/2011

Because we cannot allow them to achieve actual independence, even if - in fact especially if - it is done without violence.

[dim]

12:09 AM on 02/02/2011

Because right wing parties in Israel do not seek to abolish the democratic system.

[JimRinX]

07:53 PM on 02/01/2011

Gasp! Did you say that, "Free Market Reforms have hurt the POOR"?!?
Gasp! But, but, but HOW CAN THAT BE?!?
Oh, I know - they're all just, like, those, like, Loser People, I'd bet - Right? Otherwise, everyone KNOWS that The Invisible Hand of The Free Market is Our Friend, Right?!?
I mean, God Bless America - all locked n loaded, n all that; we NEVER live beyond Our Means - like these POOR People obviously have been!
(Psst. You Do Know that I'm being sarcastic, I hope)

[Bernique]

09:29 PM on 02/01/2011

Thanks, Jim.

[acudoc]

02:46 AM on 02/02/2011

Why do you believe we have a free market? We don't even have a stand-alone money which is the cornerstone of a free market. We have oppressive taxes on all kinds of businesses and lobbyists swarm the Congress and state legislatures like flies on shit.

There is no free market anywhere, there is only a leveraged debt-based paper money system managed by friends-with-benefits of the State's parasitical politicians.

Free market----that's a good one!.

[TheronC]

11:39 AM on 02/02/2011

Oppressive taxes? We have the lowest overall tax rate since 1950. It's only oppressive if you think roads and schools and clean air and airports and police and, well a whole bunch of other stuff you depend on every day, happen because of magical fairies.

[Hareega]

07:44 PM on 02/01/2011

This isn't really a major change in Jordan in Jordan, for the following reasons:

1- Governments in Jordan rarely ever last longer than 18 months, and this government has been around isnce 2009, it's about time for it to go.

2- The prime minister himself was very unpopular, and quite often unpopular prime ministers have been fired before (examples: Kabariti, Zaid Rifai who is Samir's father)

3- The new prime minister is more corrupt than this one, well-known to have manipulated the election results in 2007.

not a lot of change Jordan

[Bernique]

09:31 PM on 02/01/2011

Sigh, Hareega. I knew this was a cosmetic change, just as Egypt's is. Ms. Clinton, come on!

[verycold]

07:43 PM on 02/01/2011

This is strange I think.  Did the King previously think Samir was doing a good job? So was he already contemplating replacing him?  Had he talked with Samir about how to improve conditions for the people?  This seems very reactionary to me rather than a well thought out decision

[SageSpencer]

07:06 PM on 02/01/2011

I like the King but if I were him I would be a little nervous right now!?!

[undsoweiter]

07:00 PM on 02/01/2011

The destabilization of the Jordanian monarchy may not be a good thing.
Half of Jordan's population is Palestinian.
Many of them consider the area now occupied by the state of Isreal to be their rightful home.
Their arguments are quite persuasive.
There are 2 million of them.

[alhorvath]

09:29 PM on 02/01/2011

Here is something that is also quite persuasive. 100% of the military is beduin and loyal to the king. The last time the Palestinians tried to take over the kingdom that has given them refuge they got beat real good and expelled to Lebanon. If they try to take over the kingdom again, they will be slaughtered.

[Bernique]

09:32 PM on 02/01/2011

So the Palestinians win, right, weiter, and that is a bad thing?

[sirhanrap]

11:41 PM on 02/01/2011

No..they lose all around!

[uneeda]

06:53 PM on 02/01/2011

everybody's on the run now