So, after we've talked a lot in French about the apparent deterioration of the Moroccan-American diplomatic relations, let's talk about it in English here as well. It may be of interest to US readers and officials (?) who are monitoring this site.
The background is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...499660-a6d2-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html
The way I understand it and how it was reported in moroccan media, Morocco lost a staunch supporter when Hillary Clinton left office, and was replaced by John Kerry who may be siding with our enemies of the polisario front because he may be influenced by the pro-polisario Kennedy Foundation.
The first visible reaction was the cancellation or postponement of "African Lion 2013". I suggest that Morocco reconsiders its membership in ACTA as well: if there's one way to send a strong and crystal clear message to US democrats, that's by demonstratively leaving their pet project ACTA. It's not like we were the only ones here: the European Parliament rejected ACTA too, for very good reasons.
If parts of the US democratic party are turning hostile towards Morocco's territorial integrity, which includes our Sahara, why should we continue to support their projects?
What do you think? Is this all just a little bump in the road, or is it something more serious? Are we Moroccans about to be targeted, i.e. "arab-springified" by the Obama administration as well? Well, scratch the last sentence: I'm just joking here. We're still friends with the US, but right now, we're feeling betrayed by our long time friend (in fact, long time is to be taken verbatim: i.e. since 1787).
Actually, I'm not even blaming Obama for this: under Hillary Clinton's watch, relations were better. That's more of a John Kerry issue we're having here. At least, I hope we don't have an issue with Obama -- or rather that Obama didn't develop some issues with us now.
The background is here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...499660-a6d2-11e2-9e1c-bb0fb0c2edd9_story.html
The way I understand it and how it was reported in moroccan media, Morocco lost a staunch supporter when Hillary Clinton left office, and was replaced by John Kerry who may be siding with our enemies of the polisario front because he may be influenced by the pro-polisario Kennedy Foundation.
The first visible reaction was the cancellation or postponement of "African Lion 2013". I suggest that Morocco reconsiders its membership in ACTA as well: if there's one way to send a strong and crystal clear message to US democrats, that's by demonstratively leaving their pet project ACTA. It's not like we were the only ones here: the European Parliament rejected ACTA too, for very good reasons.
If parts of the US democratic party are turning hostile towards Morocco's territorial integrity, which includes our Sahara, why should we continue to support their projects?
What do you think? Is this all just a little bump in the road, or is it something more serious? Are we Moroccans about to be targeted, i.e. "arab-springified" by the Obama administration as well? Well, scratch the last sentence: I'm just joking here. We're still friends with the US, but right now, we're feeling betrayed by our long time friend (in fact, long time is to be taken verbatim: i.e. since 1787).
Actually, I'm not even blaming Obama for this: under Hillary Clinton's watch, relations were better. That's more of a John Kerry issue we're having here. At least, I hope we don't have an issue with Obama -- or rather that Obama didn't develop some issues with us now.
