Jordan’s royal family feud

Worldly

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down the royal drama that has roiled the normally quiet kingdom of Jordan this week: The king has accused his half-brother, the former crown prince, of a vague conspiracy against the crown and has put him under house arrest. The Worldly crew lays out what we actually know about what happened, what led to this family tension spilling out into the open, what political instability in Jordan could mean for the broader Middle East, and whether the Biden administration is betraying its stated commitment to defend democracy and human rights by unequivocally backing the king in this dispute. Also, Zack sings. References: Alex wrote Vox’s explainer on the royal family feud. This is the audio of Prince Hamzah and the Jordanian general talking that Jenn mentioned. The New York Times has a good piece on the roots of the King Abdullah and Prince Hamzah split. You can watch Hamzah’s self-filmed video sent to the BBC, well, on the BBC. The White House had a readout of President Biden’s call with Abdullah. Biden told Abdullah to “stay strong.” Hosts: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, Vox Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), White House reporter, Vox Consider contributing to Vox: If you value Worldly’s work, please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts More to explore: Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram. About Vox: Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Newsletter: Vox Sentences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:41.3	We talk a lot about instability in the Middle East, but one of the countries that
0:45.8	usually doesn't come up in this conversation is Jordan. The Hashemite Kingdom is
0:50.5	typically seen as an island of stability in a turbulent region, but just this
0:55.2	week there was a massive, massive shock to the system. The former crown prince
1:01.9	Hamza was detained at his home at the orders of the current King Abdullah, who
1:08.5	alleged that the crown prince was engaged in a coup attempt against the monarchy.
1:11.2	This is wild stuff in any country, but especially in Jordan, which is not only a
1:17.2	relatively stable regime, but also an important part of the broader Middle East
1:23.0	regional security architecture and the American strategy to manage the
1:26.8	Middle East broader conflicts. To downworldly part of the Vox Media podcast network,
1:30.4	we're going to talk about Jordan in real depth. We're going to talk about what
1:34.3	happened, whether or not this coup attempt was real, and what it means that there's
1:38.8	such a public round of discontent between the King and his half-brother. I'm
1:45.2	Zach Beachham here as always with Jen Williams and Alex Ward.
1:47.7	Hey, I love talking about a monarchy. What? It was in a mon, Jordan.
	...

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