Factual Dispatch #45: Fertilizing Relationships & The Longest Minefield in the World

This week, a story peaked over the lip of the news trough that’s been sloshing with coronavirus and caucus catastrophes. It dovetails John “Failed Mustache” Bolton, America’s oldest ally, and a wall of landmines that stretches for 2700km.

This is Western Sahara. While Morocco claimed it as part of its sovereign territory in 1957, it was only relinquished by Spain in 1975 to be administrated jointly by Morocco and Mauritania. Sahrawis, the people of the region were a touch miffed they weren’t consulted about their right to self-determination, and a nationalist/pro-independence movement named the Polisaro Front, backed by Algeria, has fought the Moroccans in a losing battle since the 70s. The UN recognizes the Polisaro Front as the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, but like many conflicts in North Africa & the Middle East, legitimacy is earned by the sword. So, when they announced the creation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, war broke out. The Mauritanians withdrew in 1979, but the Moroccans dug in, resulting in this:

The war not only produced something on the order of 40,000 refugees, but also resulted in the creation of a 2700 km-long sand berm/wall, and the laying of 7 million landmines. That same map from earlier, now annotated with the Berm:

To be clear, the United Nations does not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, nor does any of its member nations. However, this might all be changing thanks to a weird confluence of John Bolton being shown the door, Bibi looking to make new friends, and Morocco knowing when to play ball.

This week, Western Sahara’s territorial waters were formally annexed by Morocco. Why did Morocco feel secure enough to do this? Because this week news broke that Israel has been pushing the Trump administration to recognize Morocco’s claim of sovereignty over all of Western Sahara, in exchange for Morocco formally recognizing Israel. Israel is not officially recognized by Morocco’s leadership, but backchannel negotiations between the two nations have been happening for years now, starting back in 2018 when Bibi met with the Moroccan Foreign Minister at the UN General Assembly.

Strongly opposed to this recognition & partnership is John Bolton who stonewalled it from happening until he was cast out by God Emperor Trump. But without him, Pompeo & Bibi have kept the conversation going. During this backchannel negotiation, Moroccan government officials also made the rounds on Iranian conservative media, accusing Hezbollah of sending weapons to the Polisario Front. While the allegations weren’t accompanied by evidence, they were parroted by Trump administration staff and pro-Moroccan Congresspeople.

Also this week, a deal where Morocco purchased three Israeli reconnaissance drones, supposedly signed in 2014 was closed, from a French company who retired them from “active duty” in Afghanistan. Why were they purchased? To monitor and help counter extremist groups in Western Sahara of course.

This news, especially in light of Kushner’s “shut up and take it” DOA peace plan, has Moroccan government officials playing defense in the press when it comes to their ostensible continued support of the Palestinians. Some great writing on Western Sahara has been done since the Arab Spring, but ultimately, Morocco is playing the shrewd long game here, as they know most of the globe doesn’t care about Morocco, much less the dirt to the south of Casablanca.

Eye-Watering Data Visualization of the Week: We’re so close to sunlight again. Hold on tight, March will be here soon.

Vaguely Dystopian News of the Week: Another study of YouTube shows how users are radicalized by the network, this time by tracing user comments as they migrate from centrist to alt right channels.

Annoying-But-Correct Take of the Week: People say you need to read news you disagree with because if you don’t, you’ll build a “filter bubble” and your understanding of reality will distort. The problem with this assertion is, filter bubbles don’t actually exist. 

“Huh, Interesting” Read of the Week: Researchers may have linked autism to problems with myelin, the nervous system’s insulating material.

Jabberjaw of the Week: (Trying a new section in an attempt to get me to consume the medium more!) People think pro-corporate fake news propaganda is a recent thing, but this podcast evaluating The Economist shows just how far back neo-liberal/pro-imperialist literature being self-fulfilling prophecy goes.

Royal Sampler

The Coronavirus quarantine has led to the largest experiment in remote work in history, as Technode reports on how Dingtalk & WeChat struggle to handle the demand from people stuck at home.

Bill Bishop of Sinocism has the must-read round-up of how China’s Great Firewall has run smack into the modern information needs required to handle a public health crisis.

Surfers, Hippies, Hipsters, and Snowflakes, a great read on how Special Forces Operators are a different breed, even within a system that punishes independent thought and rebellion.

Ben Evans’ annual presentation on technology S-curves, where we are, and where we’re going is up, and the slides are kind of mind-blowing.

The future of democracy might not depend on guaranteeing our rights to speak, but our right to listen.

When you find out a guy you did college theater with was named to be the “chief of staff” of a Trump ambassador, because he’s their son. 

Lastly, a screenshot of the DNC convention as per The Simpsons. For no reason at all.

Get some rest, vitamin C, and take it easy this weekend.

Yours,T