Sometimes, it's NOT good to be the king.

[No Elephants]

I tend to forget that Mel Brooks said that line as a French King.

Jordan protesters call for "downfall of the regime"

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN | Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:07am EST

(Reuters) - Thousands of protesters chanted the Arab Spring slogan "the people want the downfall of the regime" in Jordan's capital on Friday, as demonstrations against rising prices gather force in a country so far spared the brunt of Middle East unrest.

The mainly urban Muslim Brotherhood joined hitherto largely rural protests that have erupted in the last few days, raising the specter of lasting instability in the kingdom, a staunch U.S. ally with the longest border with Israel.

Friday's demonstration near the main Husseini Mosque in downtown Amman was peaceful, with unarmed police separating the demonstrators denouncing King Abdullah from a smaller crowd chanting in support of the monarch.



<snip>

Like many Arab states, Jordan has used government subsidies to appease the masses with cheap food and fuel, only to court unrest when the cash runs out.

<snip>


(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Peter Graff)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/16/us-jordan-protest-idUSBRE8AF0LK20121116

Unarmed police? Cheap food and fuel? And we think we're a first world country?


Anyhoo....


"May you live in interesting times." Chinese curse.

[Enthusiast]

1. This is sad.

Jordan seems like an island of sanity in a sea of threatening extremist Mid-East rhetoric. Not to say that the extremists don't have some legitimate complaints.