Arab Spring: Where are we Two Years after it Started?

Almost two years that the Arab Spring started, it is interesting to do an overview of what it brought to the region and to the world. First some Arab countries got rid of their presidents-heads of state who were ruling with an iron fist and no democracy for the people. Obviously everyone will name Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia. Those three countries are now free to elect new presidents and members of their parliaments and governments. It is, whatever some people might think, a great step ahead as it showed that Arabs were and are searching for democracies to live in. The former stance that some western countries were saying about the lack of maturity of Arab people, although completely false, is no more valid. Goverments interests were above what the Arab people were really looking forward to: living in peace and in a "normal" regime that would take their interests, their needs and their opinions in account.
However, a lot of other Arab countries are still living in tough dictatorships or at least regimes that don't give the people a lot of freedom to express themselves. Corruption and favoritism are still very much in use in those countries that d oone speaks about Algeria, Bahrein, Mauritania and to a lesser extent, Morocco.
Syria's situation is the most difficult one in the Middle East with, for the moment, no hope for any peaceful solution.
So what could the other Arab people do in order to stop the bloodshed in Syria and try to help the other countries to change their regimes, peacefully if possible?
First they have to understand that not one single country, western mainly, will help them. They have to start their revolution themselves.
Second they must unite in their country to show only one opposition to the regimes.
But no solution will be found if the people don't start speaking loud against their regimes and showing that they only want fairness, equality and responsibility from their leaders.
Is it a dream? Probably as the worst political dictators have been overthrown. But one thing remains: corruption. It seems that it still is the cancer that eats a lot of Arab countries and their leaders and regimes. So maybe the best solution would be to fight against corruption first before looking for democratic regimes. The only danger would be that other Arab people would stop fighting for their rights thinking that their leaders will never give up power. And they should think of the famous song by the late Freddy Mercury and the Queen: "The Show Must Go On".

US Presidential Elections

Obama has been re-elected for a second term president of the USA. Well, after all it is well deserved. Obama has been a good president and he will probably a good one after his last term. He did things and tried hard to do others. No president can fulfill all his or her promises. What a lot of people forget is that in a democracy a president is not the only one who makes laws. He has to work with his own party and also with a chamber whatever we call it. In the US, a president has to work with the Congress, the House and the Senate. The Congress is not always on the same political side than the president, and that is fortunate. Otherwise we are in a dictatorship. And a president cannot just ignore the Congress and all the elected people who might be against his proposals. Once again, we are in a democracy and not in a dictatorship. And the other good thing of this election is that having a president who is black is not an accident but it is now almost normal. Now the US must, in the future of course, have a woman president, a Latino, Asian, Arab American president and not to forget a Native president. But it is already a very good sign to have an African American president.
I am happy for the USA.

New French Government

Now that France has a new government after the election of the new president, the country will go back to normal. And normality is exactly what this new president is showing. François Hollande is just the right president that France needed. A normal guy, polite, smart and who has good ideas to implement in order to try to get the country out of the crisis it is in. One can already feels that the atmosphere in the country is completely different than a few weeks before. Fortunately French people did not make the mistake Americans made by voting twice for G. W. Bush. The problems faced by the country and by Europe are huge but only someone who thinks twice and who wishes to do well for the majority can succeed. Someone who does not think of himself but thinks of the people and to improve their life. Obviously it does not mean that he'll fix the problems quickly but everybody knows that he'll do his best. And that is what is important.
So good luck to you, Hollande.

A new era in France

A new era is starting in France since François Hollande has been elected president. People seem more relaxed and less stressed by the political climate. It is obvious that Hollande will have a lot of problem to take care of and it is also sure that he won't be able to satisfy everybody. But first his party, the Socialist Party, has general elections next month that will give a new majority to the House of Parliament. At least that is what he hopes. If he gets the majority, then he'll be able to govern easily. If not he'll have to form alliances with other parties in order to govern. The worst scenario for him is that the current ruling party wins the elections and gets the majority. In this case, he'll have to appoint a prime minister who belongs to it. The best scenario is that his party wins the majority. Then he'll be able to rule the country as he wants but above all to keep the promises he made during the campaign. But in any case, we got rid of the current president and it is a great thing for France. Fortunately, French voters didn't make the mistakes American made when they voted Bush twice.

French Elections 2012

WOW. Congratulations to François Hollande, the new president. We got rid of sarkozy and his racist and incompetent government. We did not do like the Americans who voted twice for Bush. Our Bush has been ousted by French people. At the same time, he deserved it. An arrogant little man who thinks highly of himself and who despises everyone should not be president of a country. And his last days of campaign showed that he only wanted one thing: to keep his job. Thanks God we, French voters, decided that enough was enough. And we voted for his challenger, François Hollande, the socialist politician, to head the country. It was beautiful to see the diversity of people who went to Bastille Square in Paris where a huge gathering had been planned for Hollande, in case he wins. And he won. Hundred of thousands of people, all races, all skin colors, all ages and of course as many women and girls as men and young boys came to the party. And people were happy which is the most important thing. The good thing with Hollande is that he is a modest person, not arrogant and rather intelligent. Now the real job starts but at least French can come back to normality in relation to the way that the country will be run.
Congratulations François Hollande.

Racism in France is still very alive

On Monday, March 19, a man opened fire in front of a Jewis school in the southern city of Toulouse and killed a man and his two sons. Another child has also died. They were just entering their school when a man on a motorbike and a helmet that hid his face is the killer. A video camera showed the motorbike and the man shooting but not his face. It is a tragedy that followed two other similar cases that happened in the area. Three soldiers were shot dead in the streets of a neighboring city. And this happened while France is in presidential campaign. All candidates went to Toulouse to pay their respect to the dead and to the Jewish community who is shocked by the terrible event. For me the fact that the president and his minister of interior as well as various politicians from the ruling party have been talking about immigration and the fact that the country should close its borders to stop the flow of immigrants is responsible for the killings. Jewish French as French indeed but once a high level politician speaks about immigrants in a racist way there is no limit to hate and anti-immigrant and anti-antisemitism. One cannot play with people because they are different or because they have different religion or skin color. It is a little bit like Pandora's box. Once you open it you don't know what you will get from it. And it is not a coincidence that three US medias, amongst which Time Magazine and the New York Times said in recent articles that French president is xenophobic. And they are right. So for the sake of differences in France, let get rid of him and his party.

French Elections

French elections are only two months away and nothing is sure. Candidates are too close to each other to have a clear idea of who will win. But I hope that Hollande will get us rid of the racist who is president. He is incompetent and liar. I wonder how a so unpopular person can still attract voters? It is time to have someone normal who can bring some hopes to the French. They are in a horrible economical situation and the future is all but bright. Something has to change and to improve. First the government and the people who take good decisions. It is so terrible to live in such a country where Arabs and Blacks are again the sole responsible for the situation. I hope that the result will be the one I am hoping for: the win of François Hollande. Let's hope.

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Hillary's Clinton visit to Morocco

US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, visited Morocco on February 26 for a day. She was coming back from Tunisia where a conference of the Friends of Syria took place on the 24. The purpose of her visit to Morocco was just to reinforce relations between the two countries. She also met the new Moroccan minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Saas El Dine El Othmani. One of the talks she had was about the Western Sahara in order to support Moroccan proposal to give more autonomy to the region that is still claimed by Saharouis. She is in favor of a peaceful solution, although Western Sahara is "de facto" Moroccan. She also spoke with her Moroccan counterpart about security in the region. The only mistake she made was to say that Morocco is a democratic country. She is wrong but she probably knows it. The United States don't really want to get involved in the internal situation but they should demand more democracy in the country and the end of the importance of the king in the country. But that will not happen soon. Unfortunately.

Morocco: the plane of the king closes Rabat airport

On Friday, February 10 the Paris-Rabat plane that left the French capital at around 12:00 pm (local time) was diverted to Casablanca at the last minute. When passengers asked the crew the reason, they said that Rabat airport has been closed because the king's plane was going to leave from there. Furthermore, passengers had to stay inside the plane in the tarmac. No one could leave the plane. So one guy is going to travel and an airport is shut down and hundred of people had to wait. That is how it works in Morocco. This is what we call total disrespect of human dignity. Furthermore this same king is promoting tourism in his country and when tourists come they are treated almost like animals. So yes the question now is: when will Moroccans get rid of their kingdom? When will democracy be implemented with normal people leading the country? It is only disgusting what is happening there. And people are still corrupted and stealing tax money payers. It is terrible. I hope that the Arab spring will also reach Morocco. Inch Allah, as we say.

The Arab Spring: one year after!

It has been more than one year that Arab Spring spread in various countries of the region and the question today is to see where we are. In fact Tunisia is doing more or less well. But there are still some problems. Egypt does not stop having protests and the army intervenes heavily leaving various casualties. Libya is in huge problems and apparently no solution is on the pipe line. Syria is in a real civil war and thanks (ironically) to Russia and China the Assad's regime will survive and go on its killings of its own citizens. Russia and China vetoes a UN resolution to stop and unrest and to intervene.
What about the other countries? Nobody speaks about Bahrain anymore. Jordan seems to do well and there are no unrests nor demonstrations against the regime. Morocco is still a completely corrupted country with a king incompetent and all powerful. He still does not understand what is happening in his country. As for Algeria the military is so strong that not even news of what is really happening can reach the west. So what is the balance sheet? For the moment only sadness that Arab countries are not able to behave like normal nations and have a real government that works for its citizen and not for itself. However, one cannot be too optimistic. Because the Arab Spring showed us that the people can wake up at any moment and that their reactions are unpredictable.

French governement is racist

It is a fact. Since the president has been elected 5 years ago, his government and himself did not stop showing their racism against Arabs and Black people. Once again his minister of interior who is also one of his closest friends, gave a statement about civilization that is a demonstration of racism. Saying that all civilizations are not equal and that some are of higher status only means that he is what we call a racist. This country, France, is probably the most racist in Europe and the most hypocritical because French say that they are not. When it is clear that they only like themselves. They think high of themselves which is an irony as they are not worth anything. And when they say that they are with Arabs, showing a so called solidarity with protesters in Arab countries, it is just empty words. In fact if you remember well, they were with Ben Ali until almost the end of his reign. Same with Moubarak with whom a lot of ministers had good relationships. The PM spent his Chritsmas holidays of 2010 as a guest of the former Rais, without any shame. Having everything paid by Moubarak, at the expenses of Egyptian people. Libya? Well who forgot how the president received Gadafi when he came as a host of honor in 2008 and how he was received by the whole government. Well, yes although they despise him he had oil therefore he was worth of "licking ass". Syria is the same. They try to show that they solidarity with Assad's opponents while they don't care. And also Syria does not have as much oil as Libya.
My advice to all: avoid France and French. They are the most racist people I know. And the most hypocritical. And leaders of North African countries and of Africa should stop their relationship with France. For good. Let's go to the USA. And although a lot of French still say that Americans are racist, they voted for a president who is Black. That is something impossible in France. And for centuries.

Brazil and Arab countries

When Lula was president, he strengthened relations between Brazil and Arab countries. As everybody knows, 10% of its population is from Arab descent which is roughly 19 million people (Brazilian population is 194,946,470). According to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, based in Sao-Paulo, Brazil exports to all Arab countries generated 15,13 billion US$ in 2011. It represented an increase of 20% on the previous year. And forecast for 2012 are even better. It shows that trade should grow by 10 to 15%.
Brazil knew how to increase its business with a fast growing region (at least some countries, mainly the Gulf states) and this should not stop. Not only Brazilians have various products that Arabs like (coffee and fruits to name just a few) but they are appreciated as people. It also exports one commodity that a lot of Arab people (and others as well) like a lot: football players and coaches. Furthermore, Brazil does not have any problem, political or economic, with any nation of the region. And my guess is that this trend will grow in the coming years. One of the reason is that Brazil will host next Soccer World Cup in 2014 and four years later it is Qatar. As this oil rich country is investing a lot in sports hoping to succeed in being the first Arab country that hosts the World Cup, it is normal that it will expand its relations with Brazil. And that is what is interesting: how to help Brazilians to receive Arab people in the country while respecting their traditions and religion. This is what I am doing and I do think that this will be very successful.

CAN 2012 - Maroc goes back home after 2 losses

This CAN, African Cup, was a very bad one for Morocco. The team, trained by a Belgium coach since July 2011, performed badly and was kicked out just after the first round. It lost two important games, against Tunisia and Gabon. The players did not do anything good during the games and its non qualification is only but normal. But the problem is more complicated. The coach who has been hired only a few months ago, is one of the best paid in the soccer world. For a country like Morocco, a poor one even if it has been doing well for the last 10 years, it is a shame to pay such an amount to a soccer coach. And it is so high that even the Moroccan soccer association did not want to disclose it. But according to the press and to some experts, the coach receives a 250,000 Euros monthly. He also had a package that includes a house and some trips back home during the year. In any case, it is too high not only for the country but also for the results he brought. But once again the problem is more complicated. If the Moroccan soccer association fires him it will mean that he did not get any result. Therefore he is out. But in this case, why high level ministers, civil servants and even managers in the private sector are not kicked out their job when they don't bring result to their ministries or companies? It is the whole Moroccan system that could be at stake if they fire him. But if they don't fire him, which is likely, it means that nothing has changed in Morocco and that incompetency and corruption are still strong in the country. Too bad.

US Elections

In November the US will vote for a president. When we look at the Republican primaries and the candidates, we only see incompetent people just trying to get some ad for them. Of course, I'll vote for Obama as he is a good president, although some do not agree. But what is great with him is that he is simple and does not play someone he is not. And honestly, his balance sheet is rather good. And we'll have also elections in France in April. Not one single normal person would like to see the same president elected again. If one wants to see incompetency, arrogance and above all racism in a western government, it is here in France. So let's hope that François Hollande, the Socialist candidate, will win and bring back some normal behavior in the highest level of the state. Let's just hope.

Where is the country going?

Where does Morocco go to? The new government started working and for the moment it is doing write well. Prime Minister Benkirane has a good speech at the lower House and he got the Representatives' majority in favor of his program. That is not bad, of course. Now He needs to fulfill his promises and start real changes. Once again, the main problem is corruption. At all level corruption is present and to finish with it is a difficult task and a long one. Does anyone have a solution? In fact there are solutions and not that complicated. The problem is that someone has to implement the solutions. And someone has to start. But the main thing is that there will be no mercy to anyone who gets money or gives money to corrupt people. What some ministers proposed, to publish financial statements when a minister leaves office, is a good idea. But it would be better to have ministers and officials to publish their financial situations before, during and at the end of a position that each one holds. However there are always ways to hide money illegally earned or stolen. But those officials and ministers should also be obliged to publish their expenses during their tenure in a job within an administration. The government should create an organization that controls the administration expenses but an independent one. With people who are really honest and who are competent. It is true that one has also to change Moroccans' mentality. And that is hard but feasible. Let's see what Benkirane will really do or at least try to do.
See you soon.

Football

The African cup has started and Morocco, like his regime, has lost. The team did play a little bit during the first half but the second half, WOW. The team was more than bad. The king who is the chief of everything, and therefore of nothing, has chosen indirectly the coach of Moroccan national team. He is paid, according to some reports, around 350,000 Euros monthly. And that is the result? Not even going through the first round? Unfortunately, this time again the famous saying "Panem and Circenses", give us bread and circus, or to be more modern give us food and entertain us, will not work.
This, once again, goes back to the same problem: as long as Morocco will not be a democracy where people, competent ones, will make good decisions in all the sectors, then yes the country will go ahead like all western nations. And for the moment, the country is idle.

The regime is dying?

Well it is a little bit early to say that. But Moroccan regime has to change radically otherwise the explosion will happen. It cannot work for more time. They start realizing that the monarchy is out of the reality of the country and the people. Does it mean that Arab spring stopped already? And that the other Arab countries will not see a new regime soon?
Time is here to demand more changes and to take the streets to show their will for a new regime.
Let's see. Unfortunately Moroccans are not going to go on protesting.

New Moroccan government

January 2, 2012
Finally there is a new government in Morocco. There are plenty of new names, it is a fact. But according to what some sources say, the king vetoed some which means that he does not want a real democracy. He only wants to go on ruling the country. He did not understand that Arab people want a real democracy. The worst thing is that he only has mediocre people around him. But as he is himself mediocre, he only can have people like him surrounding him.
The problem is that there will not be any tangible results for the country. Nothing will really change the way Moroccans want.
Terrible for the country and the people. One day they will wake up and do a real revolution.

What is going on in Morocco?

Morocco has stayed quite apart in Arab world. Compared to some other countries, it is a democracy where people have a lot of freedom. There are elections regularly and parties are allowed to present candidates freely. The economy is doing well, mainly thanks to tourism and phosphate