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.