Hussein will need all the help he can get. But whenever that happens he will inherit a country with huge challenges, especially for the younger generation, people his own age who have few opportunities. Now, we don’t know when the crown prince is going to assume the throne. This wedding is likely raising some hopes in Jordan of restoring that flow of aid. But it has seen aid from wealthy Gulf oil states like Saudi Arabia decrease in recent years. Jordan depends heavily on international aid. So these two countries now are coming together at the highest levels. You see it forging ties with China, resisting U.S. It’s a leading oil producer and a rising power globally. Saudi Arabia is important for other reasons. So Jordan is an important source of stability for the region. It borders a number of problematic countries: Syria, with a civil war Iraq, which is recovering from war and Israel and the West Bank, which are in a constant state of friction. It may be poor, but its location gives it great importance. Jordan is seen as a strategic ally for the West. This wedding is creating a union of people from the highest levels of important countries. But an extravagant wedding could also alienate the masses of people who are unemployed or living in deep poverty. The royal family wants to have a happy day. John Kerry and Jill Biden will be representing the U.S. We will see visiting VIPs, European royalty, Asian royalty from Japan. Hussein’s parents, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, have global star appeal. We will see lots of pomp and circumstance. So now, at least for a day, this is a time for the monarchy to celebrate and try to repair its tarnished image. It is rare for the royal family to air its dirty laundry like that, and the king’s crackdown on his half brother certainly raised some eyebrows. Hamzah was a popular figure with the Jordanian public - especially in poorer tribal areas. For the past two years, the former crown prince Hamzah has been under house arrest after the king accused him of insubordination. It’s even been been dealing with some palace intrigue. It’s a country with few natural resources. Relations with Israel have been strained for the past few years. It is home to a huge population of refugees who fled war in neighboring Syria and neighboring Iraq, and of course a large Palestinian population as well. Jordan has lots of challenges, lots of problems. It’s a chance for the monarchy to show its best face to its own public and also to the outside world after a rough couple of years. The royal wedding is a big deal for Jordan’s royal family.
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