Our Anonymous Arab Ally

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/17/middleeast/jordan-walks-a-tightrope-after-downing-iranian-drones-and-missiles/index.html

Washington DC, America’s federal district, is surrounded by a circular highway, its ‘Beltway,’ a circumstance that has given rise to a whole genre of ‘in-the-knowisms’ such as ‘inside the beltway,’ the conceptual equivalent of London’s élitist ‘Bubble,’ which got BREXIT so wrong.

Another Washington DC in-the-knowism is the descriptive designation: ‘Beltway Bandit,’ which refers to a baker’s dozen of multinational companies that located either their global headquarters or a substantial division thereof in the leafy suburbs of the nation’s capital.? ‘Beltway Bandits’ keep their shareholders satisfied by bidding for and winning large-scale US government contracts.

Shortly after completing law school and getting past my bar exam, I found work at one of the mammoth Beltway Bandits.? These were still the Reagan years, and the US economy was humming like a Bentley’s engine.? My remit was finding or making opportunities among the new-born republics of the former Soviet Union; but other, similar opportunities occasionally presented themselves.

On one occasion, my best – only, actually – friend from law school threw me a bone.? Among his clients, a family business was cultivating tenders from the Royal Jordanian government in the rapidly emerging environmental engineering sector.? My company had phalanxes of environmental engineers, and I was encouraged to explore this opportunity.

After what seemed like months of correspondence, one of my company’s Board members agreed to join me in an exploratory visit to Amman for talks with this evidently prominent family.? I’ll spare you the details, but we were treated like visiting royalty.? It began on the airplane as soon as we landed: what looked like an honour guard came onto the plane and ceremoniously led us off to a VIP lounge to relax while our passports were processed.

To say that Arab traditions of hospitality are effusive is like saying that Russia is a big country. Our six days in Jordan were a steady crescendo of over-the-top events and luxurious living.? The family hosting us took us down to Petra, which ticked that box on my bucket list quite nicely.? Somehow, miraculously, we managed to get enough work done for my Board member to decide to leave me behind ‘for a few days.’

As we gradually got into the long grass, ‘a few days’ turned into over three months. ?I came away from my unexpected sojourn in Jordan simply amazed that, from the vantage of enlightened (as in, The Enlightenment) Western values, this is a model country.? King Hussein, now deceased, was still on the throne.? He set the country on a Western-orientated, pro-Israeli course (to the extent reasonably possible for an Arab leader) and, unlike Egypt’s Anwar el-Sadat, he died of natural causes.

WARNING: CRASS NAME-DROPPING ALERT– At the time, the future King Abdullah II was still the heir apparent.? The hands-down climax of our fantasy week in Jordan was an audience with the Crown Prince, which our hosts had arranged on our final full day together – well, my Board member’s last day.

Two things I’ll never forget about this royal encounter:

First, Abdullah spoke and acted like a native American born and raised somewhere in the US Midwest.? His fully convincing Americanisms made for a surreal experience – as though he had flown in with us and would be leaving with my Board member.

Next, he was fully read in.? This was no ceremonial handshake.? Abdullah had obviously done his own research and given thought to how the environmental engineering sector could be developed in Jordan.? He even had a report from our hosts on our progress during the past week.

After our encounter with Jordan’s next ruler, our hosts gave away the secret sauce:? They had privileged access to the Prince because he had studied for four years together with one of the sons of our hosts at the same small private college somewhere in Michigan (or Wisconsin?).? I was secretly proud of myself for having placed his accent to within one or two states of his college years.

Jordan, for many reasons – not the least of which being that it is ruled by such an enlightened royal house – could (and should) be considered the ideal Arab ally.? If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the wheel that just keeps on turning reliably, not making a fuss about itself, just gets ignored.?

I’ll leave you to google Jordan for yourself; but please indulge me in one more lasting memory from what turned out to be a fairly significant stay in Amman.

We had originally checked in at the local franchise of one of the major international hotel chains. (‘Sorry, no product endorsements until I’ve got a signed contract in hand.) ?After my Board member’s departure, I stayed put in that same hotel for what turned out to be a quarter year.? (Mega bonus points on my hotel loyalty account!)

One of the many aspects of Amman that is amazing is that the city is situated in a high desert – a plateau. For someone who grew up in, say, New Mexico, this might not be much of an eye-opener; but we didn’t have too many deserts in New York City.? The air was DRY!? It was so dry that I could feel it sucking at all my skin’s pores.?

Here’s what I wanted to share with you on the way out:? The five-star hotel where we stayed had a rooftop swimming pool.? It was Olympic sized and offered me an opportunity to swim every morning before our day started.? In addition to the pool itself, there was a coffee bar which stood, by my stride, exactly ten steps from the pool itself.? Ten steps.? It was impossible for me to cover that distance with wet hair.? Back then, I had a fairly thick head of hair; but every time I arrived at the coffee bar from the pool, my scalp was completely blow-dried.

?