Paul
Goble
Staunton, January 11 – Because the
Trump Administration has “begun to ignore relations with Jordan” in favor of its
ties with Saudi Arabia and Israel and failed to deliver on promises to increase
assistance, a Jordanian paper says, Jordan may soon agree to Moscow’s request
to establish a Russian military base in the northeastern portion of that
country.
The reasons behind this turn of
events are laid out in an article in Amman’s Ad-Diyar newspaper, which has been translated into Russian and is
today being discussed in Moscow outlets (addiyar.com/article/1485046-هل-يقدم-الاردن-قاعدة-عسكرية-جوية-الى-روسيا,
inosmi.ru/politic/20180110/241155933.html
and newizv.ru/news/politics/11-01-2018/rossiyskaya-voennaya-baza-mozhet-poyavitsya-i-v-iordanii).
According to the Lebanese paper, “King
Abdulla understands that the union of Israeli PM Netanyahu, Saudi Crown Prince
Muhammed ben Salman and the Trump Administration and especially with his son-in-law
Kushner who has great influence in the White House has created a dangerous
situation around his country.
As a result, it continues, the king
plans to make a visit to Syria and then to Russian President Vladimir Putin “who
in turn will make a return visit to the kingdom. This could end,” the paper continues, “by
Jordan satisfying Russia’s request and giving agreement to the establishment of
a military air base for Russian planes in Jordan El-Mafaq province.”
There is much more space for such a
facility there than there is at Khmeymim in Syria, allowing for greater
security. And “in this case, Russia by
means of a large military base in El-Mafaq will be able to strengthen its
position on the border with Iraq, Syria, and Israel as well as near the Red
Sea.”
“If Jordan takes this step … Moscow
will assume responsibility for defending the Jordanian kingdom and the ruling
regime from any aggression even if it comes from Israel.” And that would also
protect Amann from any actions by Saudi Arabia by “promoting the establishment
of a balance between American-Saudi and Russian-Jordanian alliances.”
Should this scenario prove true –
and it is only a projection of what may happen rather than what has already
been agreed – that would mean, Russian military analyst Anatoly Nesmiyan says,
that the US and Israel “are not against the location of a Russian base there.
Without that, this wouldn’t be done” (el-murid.livejournal.com/3622303.html?replyto=295374495).
In recent days, it has been reported
that Moscow may also succeed in getting a military base in Sudan (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2018/01/russian-fleet-secretly-preparing-to.html)
and some Russian politicians have talked about bases in Egypt and Libya as well
(gazeta.ru/army/2017/11/25/11006558.shtml).
.
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