Jordan's king says it's `somewhat ludicrous' to intervene in Iraq while Israeli-Pal conflict rages

Associated Press / SFGate

[blam]

Queen Rania

[Jeremiah Jr]

Speaking of signs...

Daniel 9

24 "Seventy `sevens´ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
25 "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,´ and sixty-two `sevens.´ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
26 After the sixty-two `sevens,´ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.

"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven `sevens,´ and sixty-two `sevens.´

Restore Jerusalem / seven sevens...

On This Day
January 23, 1950, The Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel ...
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/010123onthisday.html

*** 

Now fast forward 49 years [or seven 'sevens'] to January 23, 1999...

*** 

GOTCHA! The Big One That Didn't Get Away
Robotic telescope captures visible light from a powerful gamma-ray burst

Jan 27, 1999: For the first time, scientists have witnessed the visible light emitted at the same time as a gamma-ray burst, a mysterious explosion in the far reaches of the universe…

…This particular burst had the power of nearly ten million billion suns, and the light grew so bright that anyone gazing at the night sky could have seen it using only a pair of binoculars. The chances were slim, however, that someone would be looking at that exact point in the sky at 4:47 a.m. EST, on Jan. 23. But thanks to the use of two satellites, a unique ground-based telescope, and the Internet, scientists around the world were able to pinpoint the location of the burst, and to monitor it from start to finish…

… Feb 10, 1999: Two weeks ago one of the most powerful cosmic explosions ever recorded bathed the earth in gamma rays. The gamma-ray burst -- called GRB990123 -- was so intense that its visible light could have been seen through common binoculars. Since then the optical counterpart to GRB990123 has faded until it is 4 million times dimmer that it was during its peak…

…Never before have scientists been able to watch the visible light during a gamma-ray burst. Ever since the bursts were first discovered in 1967, scientists have been eager to gather more data about these elusive, cataclysmic explosions.

Links at:

Autopsy of a Cosmic Explosion  - scientists analyze what occurs during a gamma-ray burst.
http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast26mar99_1.htm

*** 

ABCNEWS.com : Gamma-Ray Burst Amazes ... WASHINGTON, March 25 — The first gamma-ray burst that astronomers got to watch "live" was the biggest explosion ever seen, second only to the Big Bang that ...
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/gammaburst990325.html

*** 

Who stepped up to the plate in January of 1999?

January 22, 1999 King Hussein drops heir
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_260000/260875.stm

January 25, 1999 Hussein names son as heir
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_262000/262604.stm

Febuary 7, 1999 Abdullah sworn in
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle%5Feast/newsid%5F274000/274302.stm

Feb 10, 1999: Yesterday astronomers released a new Hubble photograph of the gamma-ray burst's fading optical counterpart. The relic fireball appears to be embedded in a faint, irregular galaxy.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast10feb99_1.htm

The Ruler

5057 nagiyd {naw-gheed'} or nagid {naw-gheed'}
from 05046; TWOT - 1289b; n m

AV - ruler 20, prince 9, captain 6, leader 4, governor 3, nobles 1, excellent things 1; 44

1) leader, ruler, captain, prince
1a) ruler, prince
1b) prince-overseer
1c) ruler (in other capacities)
1d) princely things

Daniel 8

23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. 26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

27 And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

[E Rocc]

This is a picture of Queen Noor. She is the mother of the king of Jordan and an American from Baltimore.

She's not Abdullah's mother, indeed she's only about 10 years older than him. As has been mentioned, his mother was British born.

She did however play a key role in getting King Hussein to make Abdullah Crown Prince instead of his (Hussein's) brother just before he died. Noor's son Hamzah is the Crown Prince. Between the influence of the half-British King, the half-American Crown Prince, and the American "Queen Emeritus", Jordan's pretty heavily westernized at the highest levels. Indeed, they have a peace treaty with Israel that's a de facto mutual defense deal. They're a reliable friend as long as we don't let the radical Islamophobes cause us to abandon them, and as long as the Hashemite Kingdom stands (of course).

-Eric