Jordan walks a tightrope as internal threats mount

Jordan walks a tightrope as internal threats mount

Shachar Kleiman

King Abdullah II has recently issued unusual directives to reorganize Jordan's security agencies in light of a new Middle East reality. At the heart of the plan is a new strategy and roadmap designed to structurally transform the kingdom's armed forces within three years.

The goal, Abdullah has made clear, is to enable the military to address present and future threats, including those posed by technological developments. The aim is to ensure that the Jordanian Armed Forces and other security bodies can operate effectively in "diverse operational environments," including against actors using artificial intelligence, cyberattacks and drones. The move may reflect lessons drawn from the wars in Syria and Yemen, where conventional armies struggled against terrorist organizations.

In recent years, public discourse in Jordan has increasingly focused on threats of terrorist infiltration and the establishment of sleeper cells within the kingdom. This comes alongside ongoing weapons and drug smuggling across Jordan's borders using drones. Despite the collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, which had been the primary force behind the captagon drug trade, criminal networks continue their smuggling attempts.

Moreover, in place of the Assad regime, an Islamist government has emerged that poses a long-term threat to the kingdom. Some of the factions that brought Ahmad al-Sharaa to power are affiliated with terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida and Islamic State. These groups view the Jordanian monarchy as a future target. Authorities in Amman are well aware of this and are acting accordingly, even if publicly they maintain a conciliatory tone toward their new neighbors.

These external threats are compounded by Jordan's large Palestinian population. Many expressed support for Hamas, the terrorist organization, during the war in Gaza and participated in protest events. The demonstrations were encouraged by senior Hamas figures such as Khaled Mashaal, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Jordanian authorities. Support for Hamas, of course, does not begin and end there.

This week, a Jordanian court sentenced three residents of a Palestinian refugee camp north of Amman to 10 years in prison each. They were convicted of attempting to support terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria. According to reports, they had undergone training in order to cross the border into Judea and Samaria and carry out attacks against Israel Defense Forces troops. Their conviction follows the exposure of a Muslim Brotherhood terror network that had planned to establish a missile and drone array on Jordanian soil. It is reasonable to assume these were not isolated cases.

At the same time, alongside the shift in its security doctrine, Jordan has adopted a confrontational foreign policy toward Israel. In a meeting this week with British parliamentarians, King Abdullah accused Israel of taking "illegal steps aimed at entrenching settlements, imposing sovereignty over lands and undermining de-escalation efforts. These steps risk escalating the conflict." The remarks are part of a broader effort by Jordan and other Arab and Islamic states to apply pressure at the United Nations against Israel's recent decisions regarding Judea and Samaria.

The Jordanian monarch's conduct reflects a broader regional pattern of playing a double game. On the one hand, there is military and technological strengthening to preempt terrorist threats and strict enforcement by the judiciary and law enforcement agencies. It is not inconceivable that beneath the surface, Jordan's various security services are quietly cooperating with their Israeli counterparts on these matters. On the other hand, there is a clear desire to channel domestic political and economic pressures toward Israel.

The problem with the Hashemite royal court's approach, like that of other states in the region, is that it creates a vicious cycle. With one hand, it strikes at terror-supporting movements such as Hamas affiliates and various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. With the other, it cultivates anti-Israel hostility, one of the primary sources of strength for those same actors. And what begins as incitement against Israel typically evolves into an internal security threat

Iran will not accept US President Donald Trump's 'red lines' after Geneva talks, JD Vance says

Iran will not accept US President Donald Trump's 'red lines' after Geneva talks, JD Vance says

LARA SUKSTER MOSHEYOF

US Vice President JD Vance said that Iran is not yet willing to acknowledge some of US President Donald Trump's "red lines," particularly those regarding the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, following Tuesday's negotiations in Geneva.

“In some ways it went well, they agreed to meet afterwards, but in other ways it was very clear that the President has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Vance told Fox News.

The American vice president made clear that the US's primary goal is to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

"We don't want nuclear proliferation. If Iran gets a nuclear weapon, there are a lot of other regimes, some friendly, some not so friendly, who would get nuclear weapons after them," he said.

Vance noted that the US is dealing with a "crazy regime" and referenced Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's Tuesday suggestion that Iran could sink a US warship.  "You know, well, one of your nice warships might end up at the bottom of the sea," Vance paraphrased Khamenei as saying.

Vance continued, saying the US has a "very powerful military" that Trump has shown willingness to use. At the same time, Vance went on, the president has also shown a willingness to engage with its "remarkable" diplomatic team.

According to Vance, the US would "very much like" to resolve tensions with Iran through "diplomatic negotiation," and the American government would continue to work toward such a resolution, but "the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end."

"We hope we don't get to that point," he said.

The second round of talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva, which concluded on Tuesday, were productive, but significant gaps remain, several sources told The Jerusalem Post that day.

"Progress was made in the talks with Iran, but many details still need to be discussed,” a US official told the Post. According to the official, the Iranians said they would return within two weeks with detailed proposals to bridge some of the remaining gaps with Washington.

America's Fiscal Time Bomb Is Ticking

America's Fiscal Time Bomb Is Ticking-And It's Set to Explode In Your Lifetime

PNW STAFF

The latest long-term budget outlook from the Congressional Budget Office should have triggered emergency hearings, prime-time presidential addresses, and wall-to-wall media coverage. Instead, it landed with a dull thud. No urgency. No alarm. No real action. Yet buried inside that report is a blunt mathematical truth: the United States is speeding toward a debt crisis that will not be theoretical, political, or abstract. It will be personal. And when it arrives, it will reach straight into your wallet, your retirement, your job, and your family's future.

This year alone, the federal government is expected to spend $7.4 trillion while collecting just $5.6 trillion. That's a $1.8 trillion deficit added to the national credit card in a single year. According to projections, deficits will surpass $3 trillion annually by the mid-2030s, with a staggering $24.4 trillion added to the debt over the next decade. That number is so large it almost stops feeling real. But make no mistake: it is real. And someone will pay it.

Here's the part most Americans don't realize. The biggest threat isn't military spending, foreign aid, or government salaries. The real driver of future debt is built into the system itself. Mandatory spending programs that run on autopilot will consume nearly $50 trillion over the next ten years. Add income-security programs, veterans' benefits, and federal retirement obligations, and you're looking at another $8 trillion. That averages nearly $6 trillion every year before Congress even votes on a single new policy.

Even more alarming: interest payments on the national debt are exploding. They already exceed military spending today. Within a decade, interest alone is projected to cost as much as all discretionary spending combined--every soldier, every park ranger, every air traffic controller, every federal investigator. Imagine running your household where your credit-card interest equals your entire living expenses. That's not a budget. That's a countdown.

Some lawmakers argue that cutting government workers will fix the problem. But even after roughly 270,000 federal employees were reduced, deficits barely budged. Why? Because payroll isn't the main driver. The structural imbalance is baked into the system. You could eliminate all discretionary spending tomorrow--shut down agencies, close parks, halt defense--and the government would still run a massive deficit.

What makes this situation especially dangerous is that official projections rely on rosy assumptions. Inflation, for example, is expected to settle around 2 percent for most of the next decade. But the math behind the debt suggests the opposite. If the government must borrow $24 trillion, someone has to lend it. Foreign buyers are already stepping back from U.S. Treasuries, diversifying reserves into other assets. Domestic savings aren't large enough to fill the gap. That leaves one primary buyer: the Federal Reserve.

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What was Soros up to in Munich?

What was Soros up to in Munich?

RT

At Western Europe’s most important security conference, Alex Soros checked in with his most promising investment: Gavin Newsom

Alex Soros, heir to his father’s empire, met with some of US President Donald Trump’s leading opponents at the Munich Security Conference. Looking behind the hugs and handshakes, it’s clear that the eye of Soros is fixed on the 2028 election.

Soros’ weekend in Munich was a whirlwind of photo opportunities with NATO leaders, NGO chiefs, and other neoliberals aligned with his family’s causes: EU expansion, open borders, and increased military aid to Ukraine. Among the photos posted on his social media pages, one collection of images stands out: a get-together between Soros, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Senators Mark Kelly and Chris Murphy.

That these Democrats would meet Soros is no surprise. His family’s Open Society Foundations is the party’s largest donor, funnelling $128 million to Democrat candidates through their Democracy PAC in 2022, and $67.5 million in 2024, on top of donations to left-wing prosecutors and smaller liberal organizations.

However, none of the five Democrats he met in Munich need his money this year. Clinton and Pelosi are retired from politics, Newsom has already served two terms as governor and cannot seek another, and Kelly and Murphy are both safe in the Senate until 2028. It is far more likely that any talk of funding and strategy focused on a far more consequential political battle: the 2028 presidential election.

Eyes on the prize

Newsom and Kelly have both positioned themselves as contenders for the Democratic nomination in 2028. Newsom is widely believed to be the leading candidate, and although he has dodged questions about his presidential ambitions, he has hired a social media team to needle President Donald Trump online, and used his trip to Munich to cement himself as a left-wing ‘Anti-Trump’, going as far as signing a clean energy agreement between California and the UK, and entering a similar partnership agreement with Ukraine.

Soros’ choice

Newsom and Kelly have both taken money from the Soros family and Democracy PAC before, with George Soros spending $1 million to protect Newsom from a 2021 recall attempt and writing a $10 million check for his California redistricting campaign last year. If successful, the redistricting campaign could push six Republicans out of the House of Representatives.

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The Next Big Crash:

History's Biggest Heist, Coming Soon? Conspiracy & The Next Big Crash

ALEX NEWMAN

An alliance of Big Business and Big Government have the mechanisms in place NOW to seize virtually all of your financial investments overnight, if a serious enough economic crisis were to hit. While the scheme is visible, few knows about it, and most are unprepared.

Some of the most powerful banking institutions and their allies in government are positioned to steal trillions of dollars from Americans’ retirement and investment accounts. It all involves an institution created by and, for many years run by, a “former” CIA operative and Rockefeller minion.

It sounds like a silly science fiction script from a bad Hollywood movie. But as Heartland Institute Vice President Justin Haskins explains in this interview with Alex Newman on Behind The Deep State, the plans are already tested and in place. All they’re waiting for now is the next big crash. And that could be just around the corner.

Haskins is the New York Times best-selling author of the hit new book The Next Big Crash: Conspiracy, Collapse, and the Men Behind History’s Biggest Heist. In it, he explores what financial experts such as investment banker David Webb and attorney Don Grande, both of whom have been interviewed here, have dubbed “The Great Taking.”

Thankfully, there may still be time to stop the totalitarian agenda, or at least work to safeguard some of your assets outside the financial system. (Like Alex, Justin does not give financial advice, but is willing to share some of what he has done). Time is of the essence.

Don’t miss this explosive interview with information that may prove crucial to protecting you and your loved ones.