In this very informative essay, Nicolas Pelham describes how King Mohammad of Morocco and his apparat finessed the Arab Spring, even though Morocco’s poverty is far worse than Tunisia’s and the oppression of its poor by his apparat is nearly as bad as President Ben Ali’s in Tunisia.
Whether or not Mohammad dodged the revolutionary bullet or merely bought a little time remains unclear. Unfortunately, Pelham leaves this question hanging, but he does explain how the King and his henchmen are squandering the window of opportunity they created by failing to redress appalling popular grievances. In fact, Pelham suggests the contrary is happening, even though he seems to imply the popularly elected moderate Islamist government wants to work with the King.
Note how US Secretary of State Clinton appears hypocritical, as usual. While championing so-called democratic regime change in Libya and Syria, she reinforced the the King’s finessing operation during her visit by meeting with the King’s foreign policy advisor before meeting with her Moroccan equivalent, the foreign minister of the democratically elected government.
Chuck Spinney
Le Grazie, Italy
How Morocco Dodged the Arab Spring
Nicolas Pelham, The New York Review of Books, 2012-07-05 2:50 PM
Phi Beta Iota: And then there is Qatar. Governments that lack intelligence as well as integrity — including those that welcome relations with dictators and are hypocritical of their alleged support for democracy and human rights — do their publics a great disservice.
See Also:
Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025
Journal: Coup in Qatar? Middle East Convergences…
Review: Postmodern Imperialism – Geopolitics and the Great Games
