{"id":3045,"date":"2016-01-15T13:15:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2016-01-15T13:15:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-15T19:15:05","slug":"state-of-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2016\/01\/15\/state-of-the-union\/","title":{"rendered":"State of the Union"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congress and select parts of the USA are not the only interested listeners to the SOTU<\/strong><\/em> speech. \u00a0So is the Kingdom of Jordan, as AL Monitor<\/strong><\/em>‘s Aaron Magid reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Addressing members of Congress that evening, Obama emphasized, \u201cAs we focus on destroying [IS], over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands.\u201d The American leader\u2019s assertion that such dire warnings about IS are misguided directly contradict one of [King\u00a0of Jordan] Abdullah\u2019s main talking points when traveling overseas.<\/p>\n

Over and over \u2014 whether at the United Nations General Assembly podium, during an interview with PBS\u2019 Charlie Rose or even in Kosovo \u2014 the Jordanian monarch has declared that the battle against IS is \u201ca third world war, and I believe we must respond with equal intensity.\u201d …<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s minimizing of the IS campaign speaks to a fundamental divergence with Abdullah and has led many leading thinkers in Amman to question America\u2019s determination and willingness to, in the president\u2019s own words, \u201cdegrade and ultimately destroy [IS].” If the world\u2019s strongest and most advanced military cannot defeat a far inferior and less organized group, what are Obama\u2019s true intentions?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which speaks to different viewpoints: for the United States, IS is a danger when abroad, and a danger to allies – but for the United States mainland, terror attacks, no matter how horrifying, are not a real threat.<\/p>\n

But, for Jordan, they are an existential threat, particularly as IS attempts to don the mantle of fundamentalist Islam, declaring all other sects to be heretic. \u00a0They exhibit recruiting success, millitary\u00a0success, they put into place new governmental systems (lost my reference there, but I know I’ve written about that) … Abdullah has good reason for being quite nervous.<\/p>\n

In addition to the battle against IS, nearly five years of fighting in Syria have dramatically impacted next-door Jordan. Jordan has absorbed over 630,000 Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations (one diplomat estimates that Syrians represent about 20% of Jordan\u2019s population), and Abdullah has repeatedly called for decisive action to end the conflict. Yet, in Obama\u2019s brief mentioning of the bloody crisis that has killed some 250,000 people, the US president appeared satisfied with US policy. Obama cites Syria as an example of the \u201csmarter approach, a patient and disciplined strategy that uses every element of our national power\u201d by partnering with local forces \u2014 despite the fact that the conflict\u2019s violence has only been spreading.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This might be more serious, yet it’s hard to say what else can be done in Syria in view of our already extensive activities, as this DOD report<\/a> makes clear:<\/p>\n

As of Dec. 15, 2015, the total cost of operations related to ISIL since kinetic operations started on Aug. 8, 2014, is $5.53 billion and the average daily cost is $11 million for 495 days of operations. A further breakdown of cost associated with the operations is here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the end, a speech must have a focus, and Obama chose to focus on the United States – not the MidEast. \u00a0No doubt, Jordan, the recipient of a multitude of refugees from Palestine (border on the west) and now Syria (border on the north), has good reason to be frustrated. \u00a0But this speech was not the place to look for succor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Congress and select parts of the USA are not the only interested listeners to the SOTU speech. \u00a0So is the Kingdom of Jordan, as AL Monitor‘s Aaron Magid reports: Addressing members of Congress that evening, Obama emphasized, \u201cAs we focus on destroying [IS], over-the-top claims that this is World War \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3047,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}