First Independent Mena Newspaper
The Sahara dispute is increasingly viewed as a direct confrontation between Morocco and Algeria, with the Polisario Front serving as an Algerian proxy, according to a new assessment by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), an influential Moscow‑based foreign‑policy think tank. The roughly 100‑page RIAC report on Middle Eastern and North African conflicts says Morocco’s […]
Algeria’s three‑decade journey toward joining the World Trade Organization has become a case study in strategic hesitation and economic stagnation. The committee examining Algeria’s admission to the WTO was created in 1987 and last met in 2014. This freeze reflects not just bureaucratic complexities but also indicates how Algeria is falling behind in terms of […]
A series of US government assessments issued between 2021 and 2025 depict Algeria as an entrenched authoritarian system dominated by the military, with Washington expressing growing concern over political repression, limits on civil liberties, state-controlled economy and use of proxies involved in terrorist acts in the region. The reports come as Senator Ted Cruz introduces […]
Former United Nations envoy Christopher Ross has once again exposed his impartiality in his latest commentary on the Sahara conflict in which he put forward an assessment reflecting long standing positions aligned with Algeria and the Polisario separatists, instead of viewing the dispute from the lenses of a neutral mediator. In his recent analysis published […]
The United States was preparing a major investment conference on Spain’s critical minerals but retracted after Madrid refused to support the American military operation against Iran, according press reports. Spain has refused to allow the U.S. to use the jointly run bases at Morón and Rotafor in the war against Iran, distancing itself from the […]
Both presidents of Tunisia and Algeria have sided with Iran, echoing its anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric for decades. But once the US and Israeli strikes began, both kept silent, voicing ambiguous stands. Iran’s late president Ebrahim Raisi visited Algiers in March 2024. Tebboune publicly embraced Iran as a strategic partner, framing Palestine as the ideological […]
Algeria is not benefiting from the sharp rise in international gas prices triggered by the conflict in the Gulf, as the country continues to sell most of its natural gas under long‑term supply contracts rather than on the spot market. While spot LNG benchmarks in Asia and Europe have soared to crisis levels, Algeria’s gas […]
The aerial strikes in the Middle East shows no sign of easing, and their economic aftershocks are beginning to weigh heavily on global markets, while in Morocco, fears of a renewed wave of imported inflation are intensifying. The conflict could significantly alter the country’s economic trajectory just as Bank Al‑Maghrib prepares for its first monetary‑policy […]
Escalating conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States is casting a shadow on the global economy including Morocco’s economy, exposing it to vulnerabilities in energy security, logistics, industrial supply chains and the state budget if the war lasts beyond four weeks. A disruption or risk-driven slowdown in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the […]
Morocco faces no immediate disruption to its gas supply despite a sharp jump in global prices triggered by Qatar’s temporary suspension of production following Iranian strikes. The turmoil in energy markets has also reinforced the value of Morocco’s long-term push into renewable energy, which helps reduce its exposure to geopolitical shocks. Morocco does not import […]