President of North Africa Risk Consulting * Non-Resident Fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at the United States Military Academy * Prof. Fordham Univ.
Oct 29 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Earlier this summer, a senior diplomat and I were having lunch and trying to riddle 🇫🇷 #France's shift on the 🇪🇭 #WesternSahara file.
🧵
1/10
Why now?
Sure, other countries have changed their optics on WS, so it's possible Paris' decision was in that context.
2/10
Sep 10 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Following the #Algeria presidential poll, a lot of analysis says, "The Army controls everything."
Which may be true.
But...🧵
1/5
In other geographies, when claims like this are made, it is demanded that they be supported by actual evidence.
There needs to be proof that demonstrates extra-institutional influence or control.
2/5
Jun 20 • 19 tweets • 3 min read
1] Some thoughts (and context) on this piece by @ZaaimiSarah on #Morocco / #Algeria cultural competition.
Have a seat. Get comfortable.
This is going to be a long 🧵
atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasour…
2] Ol’ Louis-Hubert-Gonzalve Lyautey, France’s first colonial administrator in Morocco, did not want a colonial landscape like Algeria.
He had been in Algiers.
The urban landscape was too unruly.
It made it too hard to colonize.
Dec 13, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
A History of Polisario’s Ties to International Terrorism in Four Acts (and an Epilogue):
📜🧵📜🧵
1/61) The GWOT:
OMG!
Polisario is tied to AQIM.
Oh, wait.
No, it’s not.
Sugar.
2/6
Sep 25, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
It’s a rainy Monday morning.
GTFOH with this garbage analysis on #Algeria and #Russia
🧵🧵🧵🧵
1/7thehill.com/opinion/intern…
“#Algeria, not least owing to its own policies against #Morocco, is already surrounded by tensions there, #Libya and #Tunisia.”
Lordy, “against Morocco” is an interesting way of phrasing it and a tip of the hand.
And then the easy glossing over #Libya and #Tunisia.
2/7
Jun 12, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
A quick thread on #Algeria's slow embrace of renewable energy investment.
1/10
In the midst of the oil boom in the mid-2000s, #Algeria was making a LOT of money.
Sonatrach's 2008 revenue was US$76 billion.
US$76 billion...
2/10
Jun 14, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
With #Algeria in the news, with back-to-back delegations in Algiers, and with lots of folks writing about Algeria for the first time, here are some thoughts.
A short thread 🧵
1/9
One of the problems with #Algeria analysis (and by extension, other countries’ policies toward Algeria) is that it is prone to misinterpretations (at best) and conspiracies (at worst) because so little is known or understood about the policymaking process in Algeria itself.
2/9
Oct 12, 2021 • 20 tweets • 8 min read
Lots of pretty bad Anglophone commentary on #Algeria these days, but this one in Newsweek has got to be (among) the worst.
