Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s reminded the world of the unchanged US support for Morocco’s “serious, realistic, and credible” compromise autonomy proposal to end the three-decades old Western Sahara conflict. Days after, two more countries officially withdrew recognition and support of the “Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic” (SADR) “the pseudo country” run by the Polisario Front in southern Algeria.
Zambia’s Foreign Minister, Kabinga J. Pande confirmed that his country officially “withdrew its recognition of the SADR on March 29, 2011.” Zambia joins Papua New Guinea, which also withdrew its recognition of SADR in March and nearly 50 other nations that have done the same.
As Secretary Clinton said, the Clinton, Bush, and Obama Administrations have supported the Moroccan autonomy plan as have bi-partisan majorities of both the US House and Senate.
In 2007, King Mohammed VI submitted the proposal to the United Nations in order to peacefully resolve a conflict from a “long-gone era” and to give a voice to thousands of Sahrawis being held in refugee camps by the Polisario Front in southern Algeria. According to Secretary Clinton, the plan is “a potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity.” The plan would also remove the largest obstacle to regional stability and cooperation in North Africa.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
