First Independent Mena Newspaper
How important has been the role that social media have played in the Arab Spring uprisings and the subsequent democratic transformation affecting the North African region? This is a question that has been hotly contested in both policy-making and academic circles essentially ever since a Tunisian fruit vendor’s act of self-immolation swiftly wreaked havoc with […]
It has been almost two years since the Arab Spring hit the countries of Middle East and North Africa. While some nations have taken a fresh breath of freedom, others have plunged into misery. Day-to-day riots and protests have paralyzed the socio-political functioning of the region, and stifled the tourist industry – the crux of […]
French President François Hollande will pay early 2013 a visit to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI. The announcement was made Wednesday in the two countries’ capitals following a telephone call between the two heads of state who both said they were looking forward to meeting each other. President Hollande thanked the king […]
When the 26-year-old fruit vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi – after being slapped around by local authorities one time too many – in an act of desperation and protest, set himself on fire in the Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid, no analyst or politician could have foreseen the wave of regional uprisings that were to follow. What […]
It is common today to associate Salafism with radicalism, nihilist violence and failed states. In fact, Salafism is a heterogeneous religious and political tendency. Salafis agree on the glorification of the early Muslim community, its religious texts, its supposed unity, its energy and moral conduct. However, they differ considerably on the way to revive this […]
New Geopolitical Realities The escalating violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, in which scores of Palestinians and Israelis have so far been killed, is being played out against a fast changing geopolitical setting. The current Israel-Gaza clash is the largest since Israel’s war in Gaza in 2008-2009, when Hamas was a political pariah […]
The US elections and the monotonous presidential debates bear little to no substance on North Africa. In the much-anticipated third debate on foreign policy, there was scant mention of the countries of the Maghreb and their important strategic worth in US global fight against terrorism. Except for Libya (mentioned 12 times) in the context of […]
The adage ‘a chain is as strong as its weakest link’ is well applied to the need for harmonised maritime standards across a region as diverse as the Mediterranean. As one of the world’s major shipping areas, the Mediterranean Sea comprises some 450 ports and terminals, handling more than 300,000 port calls per annum. Progress […]
By 18 October 2012, a report that Salafis destroyed an 8,000-year-old petroglyph in Yakour Plain not far from Marrakesh quickly spread on Facebook and Twitter. The rock-drawing depicting the animistic divinity of the sun is one of thousands of stone carvings in the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains. Print and online newspapers repeated these rumors, […]
The coming state visit of François Hollande in Algeria by the end of the year is an opportunity to take stock of the political relationship between France and Algeria. For decades, this crucial relationship has been complex, ambiguous and systematically ridden by memories of the bloody and endless war that France imposed on its colony […]