"IN JORDAN prime ministers are there to be sacked," says a Western diplomat. "They're a buffer, a shock absorb-er"-between the people and the king. In the past half-century they have lasted on average barely a year. On October 17th Ma-rouf al-Bakhit, after eight months in the j ob, duly got the chop. Mr Bakhit was widely regarded as a poor prime minister. But it is King Abdullah who, in the end, runs the country. After 12 years on the throne, three things have changed, as the Arab awakening has affected Jordan. The king is now a big part of the problem.
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