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Margaret Lasserre's avatar

I lived in 2 countries affected by American foreign policy. I couldn"t agree more with you. I shudder when American liberals talk about America as the democratic beacon for the world. The support of Hassan II who was a monster and the campaign against Ben Barka (socialist leader) in Morocco where I lived between 1960 and 1966. This had a profound and negative effect

The campaign to dislodge de Gaulle after the 2nd World War because of the Communist role in his government. Great powers are never innocent. We have to monitor them carefully.

As for the Jewish community in Morocco my impression was of integration particularly in the rural areas. Differences were encouraged by the French and accentuated by the Naqba and by the active recruitment of Israeli agents encouraging departure to Israel

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Peter Stokoe's avatar

I would just take issue with the last sentence of this piece which suggests that Russia is just demanding a "sphere of influence". This might be how some people characterize it for rhetorical advantage, but it is too crude and simplistic. As I understand it, Russia is not demanding a "sphere of influence" (and neither should the US). Rather, Russia is invoking the nascent concept of "indivisible security" as found in OSCE declarations and elsewhere, wherein e.g. "The security of each participating State is inseparably linked to that of all others..." and "They will not strengthen their security at the expense of the security of other States." (Astana Commemorative Declaration 2010) In other words, international security should not be a zero-sum game. This applies especially to bordering states. It does not require "spheres of influence" but rather just some kind of international neighborliness whereby all states give some consideration to the implications (and perceived implications) of their policies on other states, especially their neighbors.

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