(photo by Lynn Sweet)
AMMAN, Jordan–CNN producer Sasha Johnson on the tarmac with the Obama “Change We Can Believe In” campaign plane makes the front page of the Tuesday Jordan Times, pegged to the arrival Tuesday of presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
The lede: “US presidential contender Barack Obama is expected to arrive in Amman today where he will hold talks with His Royal Majesty King Abdullah and talk to reporters later in the day, an official said.”
Key graf from the king’s perspective: “His Majesty would underline Jordan’s keeness on a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its support for the Palestinians right to an independent and viable state.”
Viable is a very important word here, and one fraught with diplomatic challenge. It is usually a reference to creating a contiguous nation in the West Bank, not just pockets of Palestinian territory puncuated with Israeli settlements.