Summary: Trump’s granting Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara looked a clever stroke and a big win for Israel but the road to final diplomatic recognition has hit a bump or two.
Francis Ghilès, associate senior researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, is Arab Digest editor William Law’s guest this week. Algeria, like other hydrocarbon producers, has experienced a huge windfall thanks to the war in Ukraine. The question is will the country see itself return to a position of prominence in North Africa and beyond or will it once again squander the opportunity and remain locked in a dysfunctional economy and a frozen political system?
Summary: opportunity beckons for Algeria as Europe struggles to meet its urgent need for reliable gas supplies but much needs to change in the energy, financial and industry sectors for the country to realise its full potential as a major European gas supplier.
Arab Digest editor William Law welcomes back Francis Ghilès, a leading European expert on the Maghreb and a senior associate research fellow at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. Their conversation explores the missteps of France in North Africa and the persistent failure to arrive at coherent policy approaches towards countries that are crucial to Europe’s security.
Just a little over a year after they were signed, Arab Digest editor William Law talks with Gulf State Anaytics CEO Giorgio Cafiero about the impact and implications of the Abraham Accords, the Trump-engineered deal that saw Israel triple the number of Arab states with whom it has diplomatic relations at no cost to itself but at a very great cost to the cause of Palestinian statehood.
Summary: the UN’s Special Envoy has a deck that is already stacked against him and little chance that his efforts going forward will achieve a fair and balanced outcome.
Summary: the indictment of Thomas Barrack has shed significant light on the UAE’s unorthodox efforts to influence American foreign policy in the Middle East before and during the Trump presidency.
Arab Digest editor William Law is in conversation with the North Africa expert Francis Ghilès, an associate senior researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). Their economies, their governments, the repression of critics and journalists, relations with France and the Western Sahara affair all feature in a wide-ranging overview of the two senior Maghreb countries. And the Pegasus scandal gets a look-in too!
Summary: after decades when very little happened, climate change has pushed a massive project to halt Sahelian desertification to the top of the priority list with Mauritania playing a lead role.
Arab Digest editor William Law, in conversation with Francis Ghilès, an associate senior researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB). A former North Africa correspondent for the Financial Times, he is a specialist on security, energy, and political trends in North Africa and the Western Mediterranean.
