Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel (ret.) November 14, 2018 The pendulum has swung back, in what appears to be one of the biggest wins for the Democratic party in several decades. The November 6th elections will give Democrats between 35-40 new seats in the House of Representatives, with 1-2 seats lost in the Senate, which is respectable, considering they were defending 26 seats – including 2 independents who caucused with them –
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Robert M. Holley November 13, 2018 So, MINURSO has been renewed for another six months and Horst Kohler will hold a meeting in Geneva in December. Does anyone expect Algeria or the Polisario to have an epiphany before gathering around the table with Morocco and Mauritania in Switzerland? Not very likely. Clearly, since Kohler has no magic wand, he could use a little help if he seriously wants the
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Ambassador Edward M. Gabriel (ret.) October 9, 2018 One of my first trips in Morocco as US Ambassador in 1998 was to attend the dedication of the famous Koutoubia minbar, in the presence of then Crown Prince Mohammed VI, as well as other dignitaries, including a well-known American art collector and dealer, Patti Cadby Birch, who held several distinguished positions with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of
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Robert M. Holley November 2, 2018 On October 31, the United Nations Security Council renewed the peacekeeping mandate for its mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO, for another six months, as Washington had insisted, rather than the twelve that the Secretary General had recommended in his early October report to the Council. The vote was twelve members in favor and three abstentions (Russia, Ethiopia, Bolivia). In their national statements following the
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Jean R. AbiNader October 25, 2018 In its recent report on the status of youth, the Social, Economic and Environment Council (CESE) identified important challenges to King Mohammed VI’s mandate, in his recent Youth Day address, to increase youth employment via “a new integrated national initiative for Moroccan youth.” To emphasize his point, the King met with the education committee in early October to focus on the vocational training sector
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