The US will donate $ 10 billion worth of weapons to Jordan. US stronghold in the Middle East
The Biden administration has presented a new assistance agreement with Jordan. Washington will send $ 10.15 billion to Amman over the next seven years. The new agreement will make Jordan the third largest recipient of US aid, after Ukraine and Israel.
The White House signed the new memorandum of understanding (MOU) last Friday. The Biden administration first discussed the new agreement with Jordan on the sidelines of the July Jeddah summit. The MOU is the largest aid package the United States has ever signed with Amman.
Jordanian officials celebrated the aid, saying it was essential. “It is an extremely important agreement. It speaks of the strong friendship that binds the two countries ”, said Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. And he added: "The United States has gone further for Jordan".
The State Department stressed Amman's strategic importance to US foreign policy goals in the Middle East. "The agreement represents an important commitment for the stability of Jordan and for the duration of the strategic partnership", reads the press release.
Although the United States views Jordan as an important partner in the Middle East, Washington and Amman do not think alike about Syria's policy. Jordan recently approved the Russian presence in Syria as a "stabilizer". Part of the aid will go to Amman to manage the 1.3 million Syrian refugees. The reconstruction of Syria is currently hampered by US sanctions.
The MOU that grants Amman over $ 10 billion from US taxpayers was signed despite the State Department claiming the Jordanian monarchist government commits disturbing human rights abuses. According to the State Department, Amman has consistently committed serious human rights violations.
“Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment in government structures; arbitrary arrests and detentions; political prisoners or detainees; arbitrary or illegal interference with privacy; severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, including the existence of criminal laws on defamation and censorship ”, reads the 2021 report on human rights.
Like Jordan, other major recipients of US aid also have a compromised human rights record. Israel receives $ 3.8 billion. Egypt will receive over $ 1 billion in aid in 2022 and several representatives believe Cairo is guilty of extrajudicial executions. The main aid recipient, Ukraine, has nationalized its media and banned almost all opposition political parties in the past six months.
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The article The US will donate $ 10 billion worth of weapons to Jordan. US cornerstone in the Middle East comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/gli-usa-doneranno-10-miliardi-di-dollari-di-armi-alla-giordania-caposaldo-usa-in-medio-oriente/ on Sun, 18 Sep 2022 06:00:00 +0000.