Abdallah II of Jordan
Abdallah II of Jordan
Abdullah II bin Al-Husseinhas been the King of Jordan since he ascended the throne on 7 February 1999 upon the death of his father King Hussein. Abdullah is a member of the Hashemite family, which has ruled Jordan since 1921, and claims to be descended from the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
NationalityJordanian
ProfessionLeader
Date of Birth30 January 1962
CountryJordan
spring thinking years
The Arab Spring I think we will look back whether it's two years, five years, ten or fifteen. And say it's a good thing.
responsibility years balls
It's a tremendous responsibility to be direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad. This family has had the burden of leadership on its shoulders for 1,400 years. I'm not going to drop the ball on my shift.
couple party years
Jordan has to show the Arab world that there's another way of doing things. We're a monarchy, yes, but if we can show democracy that leads to a two-, three-, four-party system - left, right and center - in a couple of years' time, then the Muslim Brotherhood will no longer be something to contend with.
country israel years
Many occasions I've sat down with Israelis to say, where do you see your country in 10 years time, and work me back, so we can figure out the synergies and the connections between Israel and the rest of the Arab world. No Israeli has ever been able to answer that question.
loss past years
Over the past few years, the road to confrontation has shown its consequences: loss of innocent lives, destruction and fear. Most costly, however, was the loss of hope. The most precious gift that you can present to your peoples over the coming weeks is renewed hope born out of tangible progress on the ground.
moving years class
Ten years ago I said, you know, my goal is to be able to get food on the table. What I'm trying to say by that is trying to create a vibrant, capable and effective middle class. The quicker and stronger that we can be able to do this, the easier it is for political reform to move forward.
bigger economic knew middle plans quicker turn
The more I support with my economic plans the building of a middle class, the quicker they're going to turn around and say, 'Hey, we want a bigger say in things.' So, I knew what I was getting into right at the beginning. It's the right thing to do.
center colleague decide east jordan left middle months several
And as an American colleague said to me several months ago, he said, 'I think the challenge in Jordan - and, again, this is for the rest of the Middle East - we need to define what center is. And once we can define what center is to a Jordanian, then we can decide what's left and what's right of that.
remember-you remembers-you remember
Remember you don't do anything in isolation.
country giving incentives
The incentive that you give to your youth is going to be the make-or-break future of the country.
people choices humanity
We have to always hope in humanity that people will make the right choices.
advantage crisis situation
Whenever you have a crisis, you're always going to have the extremists taking advantage of the situation.
zero thinking people
I think the debate in our society now is that people have to agree on zero-tolerance to terrorism.
I'm easily entertained.