✚ Ridiculous P.R. for Mohammed VI

Read this piece and wonder how 1) this guy gets published anywhere and 2) how he could have worked as a political advisor at the US Embassy in Rabat. Oh, hold on, I know the answer to #2: because this kind of brown-nosing sounds very much like US policy towards Morocco. Some choice samples:

The new King is known to be very close to his people and always ready to answer their needs.

. . .

Other young Moroccans used to see him surfing or jet skiing in the most frequented beaches in Rabat or Tetouan with no bodyguards and again that was an opportunity for him to listen directly to people’s needs and problems.

. . .

I was driving once and all cars stopped at the red light. My wife surprised and almost speechless asked me “Isn’t that the King?” Yes, that was the King Mohammed waiting for the green light like the rest of the other people. This of course gained him more respect and love.

My own take on Morocco's Mohammed VI here.

� Egypt puts archives on Web to boost Arabic content | But what's the address?
� Muslims in Europe: A Report on 11 EU Cities | Open Society Institute | Tons of interesting questions raised by this ground-breaking poll.
� Abkhazia Is Recognized by Even Smaller Nauru - NYTimes.com | Sharqeya next?
â�© Pro-Israel Lobby Group’s Iran Petition Features Lots of Questionable Names « The Washington Independent | Such as "Porn Sex Video" and Comfylovely".
� LedgerGermane: Karzai Says Afghan Army Will Need Help Until 2024 | Yikes.
� Future of US-Egypt Relations: A View from the Next Generation | Notes on another POMED event.
� POMED Event: U.S. Military Assistance: Obstacle or Opportunity for Reform? | Steven Cook, Emile Hokayem, etc. some discussion of Egypt-US military relations.
� Mideastwire.com | Zaitout: reports about Algeria-US agreement over temporary military bases | Handle with care.
� British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni | The Guardian | More of this please.
� Nights to remember - The National Newspaper | Arabian Nights conference in NYU Abu Dhabi.
� Obama's Big Sellout : Rolling Stone | Must-read Matt Taibbi story on Obama's bailout of Wall Street.
� Al-Masry Al-Youm | Police raid home of prominent blogger | Wael Abbas sentenced to six months of prison in absentia for stealing his neighbors' internet??!?!
� We will not bow to this Moroccan king | Paul Laverty and Ken Loach | Comment is free | The Guardian | Strongly worded op-ed for Aminatou Haidar.
� David Ignatius - Jordan's ex-spy chief wasn't too good to be true | On former GID chief Saad Kheir - a dubious tribute.
� Orientalism in Reverse | Brian Whitaker critiques Joseph Massad's "Gsy International" theory.

✪ Israel and Palestine without peace: Distilled history | The Economist | Review of Avi Shlaim's new book.
✪ : Irving Kristol | The Economist | Obituary of the late neocon.
✪ Israel and its West Bank settlements: Off the hook, for now | The Economist | "THE Israeli right, led by Binyamin Netanyahu, the country’s ebullient prime minister, is celebrating the end of a settlement freeze that never began."
✪ Translator collapsed during Khadafy's rambling diatribe | Poor guy.
✪ Robert Fisk’s World: The curious case of the missing Egyptian and the Swiss police - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent | Fisk may be going senile.
✪ King Mohammed VI of Morocco flies his Aston 1,300 miles to fix it | The Sun |News | The Sun on "Car-Mad King" M6. h/t al-bab.com.

✪ MEI Editor's Blog: Fun With Google Earth: Middle Eastern Airbase Recon | Middle Eastern airbases and Google Earth fun.
✪ Middle East arms race deals will reach US$100 billion by 2014 - AL SHORFA | I'm always surprised by what comes up on this site, which is run (why? don't ask me) by CENTCOM. And what's with the name, referring to the family of the prophet?
✪ Journalists interrogated over article on Moroccan king - Committee to Protect Journalists | "The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to end an investigation of two journalists who have already been interrogated for 40 hours over an article about the health of the king. Authorities have repeatedly pressed them to reveal their sources, according to their lawyer. Editor Ali Anouzla and journalist Bochra Daou of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula ‎were detained on Tuesday and released Thursday night, the journalists' lawyer, Hassan Semlali‎, told CPJ. Semlali said the Rabat Prosecution Office accused them of publishing false news about King Mohamed VI's health in an August 27 article that reported he was ill with a virus."
Note the official story had been that he had suffered from a stomach bug and dehydration. There have been rumors lately that he is taking cortizone (hence the puffy look), which is often prescribed for respiratory troubles.
✪ US citizen deported from Egypt - Yahoo! News | AP's Paul Schemm covers Travis Randall's unexplained deportation. This almost certainly has to do with his pro-Gaza activism, IMHO.
✪ Affaire TelQuel (Suite) + Affaire Al Jarida Al Oula (New) - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer! | Get the censored issue of Moroccan mag TelQuel via Larbi.

Morocco recently commemorated the 10th anniversary of King Hassan II's death. Some Moroccan bloggers and the prominent journalist Abou Bakr Jamai commented on 10 years of Muhammad VI. Kudos to the blogger Larbi for organizing a forum on this issue.

• Mon 23 juillet 1999 « Ibn Kafka's obiter dicta – divagations d'un juriste marocain en liberté surveillée


• [Billet invité] Dix années de règne - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer!


• [Billet invité] 23 Juillet 1999… - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer!


• [Billet invité] En finir avec la ‘’fin de l’histoire’’ - Comme une bouteille jetée à la mer!


• Global Voices Online » Morocco: A Decade with Mohammed VI