Jordan does not have the option of distancing itself or strategic dormancy due to the sensitivity and effectiveness of its geopolitical location. It is at the epicenter of influence and is forced, based on this fate, to influence the course of events regardless of how large they are and whether they exceed its size in the balance of military, demographic, and geographic power. However, its understanding that it is compelled to interact and deal with many of the region's clashes and conflicts politically, diplomatically, and sometimes militarily and security-wise if forced to do so, makes this understanding keep it in a state of high vigilance and political and security effectiveness. These are not new challenges, but they have become increasingly threatening in light of the new reality of the Middle East.
Hotbeds reaching the point of armed clash in Gaza and the West Bank, in southern Lebanon and Mount Hermon in the west and northwest, and the expansion of the Israeli military presence in the Syrian Yarmouk Basin and the security, military, and water risks it poses, in addition to the fragile areas in southern Syria with the growing operations of arms and drug smuggling, as well as the presence of Iraqi militias outside the control of the Iraqi government, are all factors that contribute to increasing the intensity of Jordanian vigilance and push it to activate rules of engagement even outside the borders to nip the danger in the bud on its territory. All of this cannot be separated from the course of the war on Iran, and the desperate attempts by Iran to harm Jordan and drag it into the furnace of this war, which does not stop despite the deceptive calm.
Does Jordan have options to build a new regional approach in light of the current Middle Eastern blindness? We find that the United Nations and the Security Council are without effective international impact, and the League of Arab States has been afflicted with complete paralysis, including the political and diplomatic dimension. Even at the Gulf level, the Gulf Cooperation Council has lost its effective influence on the course of recent events despite the cohesion of its structure. Recently, new alliances have emerged, some international related to protecting navigation in the Red Sea and some regional security-military, but these alliances have not achieved effective action on the ground, even though events in Yemen and the blatant attacks on Saudi Arabia and the striking of civilian airports and other civilian targets such as schools and mosques require direct activation of some of these agreements, yet we have not felt any useful effectiveness for them so far.
It seems in light of this context, with countries like Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq preoccupied with their internal problems and external challenges, and the dormancy practiced by Egypt, that the options for building a new approach for Jordan in the region seem thorny and currently unavailable. This makes the option of balanced general openness, building self-capabilities, fortifying the state and strengthening its institutions, supporting the positions and movements of His Majesty the King globally, and deepening awareness of the new reality among the elites to build a more solid general national awareness front, some of the most important options currently available.
