Image is of the King of Morocco meeting with John Kerry (a species of demon that plagued Hexbear in the misty past).


This preamble comes courtesy of @[email protected]:

Morocco (Al Maghrib), or more officially the Kingdom of Morocco (Al Mamlaka al Maghribiya), is a country located in the northwestern edge of the African continent. The name Morocco comes from the Spanish name Marruecos, which itself comes from the name of the city of Marrakesh. In Turkish for example, Morocco is known as Fas, mainly because Turks knew the land of Morocco through the city of Fes. Morocco is regarded as part of the Arab World and Arabic is the main language amongst the population, with French and Berber languages also widely spoken in the country.

Morocco was the home of mostly Berber tribes until the Muslim conquest and the subsequent Arab migrations in the 700s under the Umayyads drastically changed the character of the country. A Berber commander, Tariq ibn Ziyad, would later cross the Strait of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq) from the northern shores of now-Morocco and conquer Andalusia, which remained under Muslim rule for nearly 800 years. The country emerged as a significant regional power during the Almoravid and Almohad dynasties in the medieval period, known for their contributions to architecture, philosophy, and trade across North Africa and southern Europe. The current ruling dynasty of Morocco, the Alaouite dynasty, came to power in the late 1600s. The Alaouites claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad through his grandson Hasan ibn Ali, giving them religious legitimacy and political authority in the region. Despite the Shia-coded claim to legitimacy, the Moroccan royal family and the population mostly follow the Maliki school of Sunni Islam.

In the early 20th century, the Treaty of Fez (1912) created the French Protectorate of Morocco, negotiated largely without input from the Moroccan people. Moroccan lands were completely divided under French and Spanish zones, with thousands of colonists pouring into the country. The royal family frequently collaborated with colonial powers, suppressing local resistance movements and prioritizing European interests. Prominent anti-colonial uprisings, like the Rif War (1921–1926), were met with brutal crackdowns, enabled by Western-backed forces. Post-independence in 1956, Morocco maintained close ties with its former colonizers, fostering economic dependence on France and Spain. The monarchy’s alignment with Western geopolitical interests often undermined Pan-African and Arab unity movements.

During the Cold War, Morocco positioned itself as a staunch ally of the West, marginalizing leftist and nationalist factions within the country. The Green March of 1975 was a Moroccan state-organized movement to assert control over Western Sahara, a territory decolonized from Spanish rule but still awaiting self-determination. This march, supported by Western powers, particularly the United States, is often criticized as a colonial expansion disguised as a popular movement. By settling Moroccans in the disputed territory, the march disregarded the Sahrawi people’s right to sovereignty. U.N. resolutions on Western Sahara have seen limited enforcement, largely due to Morocco’s Western alliances shielding it from accountability. Western-backed security and intelligence partnerships continue to be the cornerstone of Morocco’s repressive nature towards any anti-colonial and leftist movements. In 2021, Algeria again severed diplomatic ties with Morocco, citing hostile actions and concerns over Morocco’s ties with Israel, which Algeria views as a betrayal of pro-Palestinian solidarity. The two countries have mostly clashed over the issue of Western Sahara other than a short war in the 60s over a border dispute, with Algeria continuing to support the Sahrawi independence movement.

Morocco’s relations with Israel have historically been discreet but significant, rooted in the presence of a large Moroccan Jewish diaspora in Israel. Former King Hassan II played a significant behind-the-scenes role in fostering covert ties between Morocco and Israel during his reign. King Hassan II is reported to have allowed Israeli intelligence access to critical information from a meeting of Arab leaders in Casablanca in 1965, which may have helped Israel prepare for the Six-Day War in 1967. His government provided a platform for discreet diplomatic exchanges and intelligence-sharing, including Morocco’s facilitation of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel in the 1970s. In 2020, Morocco formally normalized ties with Israel through the Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States, in exchange for U.S. and Israeli recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Diplomatic and trade relations have since deepened, with agreements in fields like defence, agriculture, and technology. Despite official ties, Moroccan public opinion remains largely sympathetic to Palestinians, but such opinions are rarely considered by the royal family.

Morocco’s future is split between ambitious global aspirations and permanent domestic issues. The country’s co-hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal is seen as a significant opportunity to showcase its shiny infrastructure and global presence. However, these achievements are often overshadowed by criticisms of its political culture, including the monarchy’s ceremonial practices, such as the humiliating tradition of publicly kissing the crown prince’s hand. Allegations surrounding King Mohammed VI’s personal behavior, including incidents of public drunkenness and alleged homosexuality continue to be a hot topic within opposition circles.


Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here!
The RSS feed is here.
Last week’s thread is here.

Israel-Palestine Conflict

If you have evidence of Israeli crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.


  • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    26 days ago

    Some quick uneducated observations on the Lebanon ceasefire:

    • The Zionists were unable to achieve their military goals. In combination with the Al-Aqsa Flood this has effectively shattered the myth of the invincible high-tech master race. Zionists are incompetent loss-averse cowards. They can be beat.
    • The zionists have no inhibitions to terrorism and barring occasional good but largely impotent measures like the ICC warrants the west and their “rules-based international order” is not going to rein their zionist dogs in. Rather they will support them materially, politically and diplomatically.
    • Outside of settler society in occupied Palestine, zionism is an elite project. It has no popular support. Even in the imperial core where Islamophobia runs rampant and zionists are portrayed as humanised victims, most normal people sympathise with Palestine. The zionists are getting away with a lot but they have alienated a generation. Going forward they will have a harder time spreading their propaganda.
    • The zionists’ sense of security has been shattered. The Al-Aqsa Flood might have been stopped and Hezbollah might cease their operations but the sense of impunity is gone. Zionist installations and infrastructure is much more vulnerable to strikes from Iran, Hezbollah or even Yemen than before. Settlers can no longer expect war not to affect them personally.
    • The Nazification of settler society combined with the lack of physical security is making settler life a lot less attractive if you’re not a howling stormtrooper. Going forward the illegal zionist entity will find it harder to recruit new settlers and settlers who have viable options outside of occupied Palestine might choose them. It is a lot more fun being a a doctor in America than having your house bombed and your kid drafted to get blown up in a Merkava in occupied Palestine.
    • Zionism is now perceived as a lot less safe investment by capital than before and they will face long-term economic consequences.
    • Hezbollah failed to stop the genocide in Gaza. Without the Lebanese front to distract me the zionazis I am extremely worried about what they are going to do
    • There has been some talks about a Gaza ceasefire being in the works. I doubt it. Genocide is baked into the zionist entity and the external pressure to stop it just decreased significantly. It is very hard not to be a doomer about it.
    • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      26 days ago

      Maybe I’m completely off base, but I feel like neither side benefits from the ceasefire:

      • For the Zionists, they completely failed in their political objective of getting their settlers back to the northern settlements. Nobody’s going to return to the north.

      • For Hezbollah, it exposes how the united front isn’t as united as it should be because now Gaza is more isolated. Plus, they lost Nasrallah in the process.

      This is why I think the ceasefire is untenable and will not last. Well that and the Zionists are pathological liars who routinely and shamelessly break their word in anything they say.

      • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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        26 days ago

        The “ceasefire” wont last because Hezbollah didn’t sign it. If Hezbollah signed it why haven’t they said so? Why does every news source say “Hezbollah has not formally commented on the ceasefire”?

        • SoyViking [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          26 days ago

          On the other hand, what would the purpose of a ceasefire be if you didn’t include Hezbollah through informal channels?

          Edit: I know. Starting a civil war between the western-backed Lebanese government and Hezbollah. But still, why would the Lebanese government accept that?

          • What_Religion_R_They [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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            26 days ago

            Some things that jumped out to me:

            There appeared to be lingering disagreement over whether Israel would have the right to strike Hezbollah if it believed the militants had violated the agreement, something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted was part of the deal but which Lebanese and Hezbollah officials have rejected.

            and

            Hezbollah has said it accepts the proposal, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday it had not seen the agreement in its final form.

            “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network.

            “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state,” he said, referring to Israel’s demand for freedom of action. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.”

          • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.net
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            26 days ago

            I have no clue why this is all happening this way but I have some thoughts:

            The Lebanese government primarily wants to stop the bombing and they know that Hezbollah would like to have some time to reorganize and resupply and wont pass up the opportunity. Hezbollah wont do shit that they don’t want to do but the Lebanon government threw in a bunch of stuff they can’t enforce just to get isisrael to sign.

            Hezbollah’s senior command is weakened after the pager attacks etc, maybe the the western aligned parts of Lebanon government thinks now is the time to force them to disband and take control over the defence of the border?

            If Hezbollah’s front line troops have been significantly worn down maybe they really do want the army to come take over. If the rockets start back up when the army has taken up positions on the border isisrael will have Hezbollah and the Lebanon army to contend with.

      • merthyr1831@lemmy.ml
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        26 days ago

        Neither side benefits with the war either.

        Hezb was likely under intense pressure to stop fighting, especially with rumours that the US was pushing for Lebanon’s parliament to elect an anti-Hezbollah president. The bombings of Beirut were directly intended to draw the Northerners into supporting this soft coup, on top of drawing a lot of blood for the previously invincible Nasrallah.

        Meanwhile, Israel was failing to penetrate key towns and villages. Any progress was steeped in blood and their tanks were taking losses far higher than replacement rates. The settlers still can’t return to the north, and Haifa was beginning to bleed heavily.

        Hezbollah, being the defending side of this battle, has categorically won, but the victory is phyrrhic considering the context of Hezbollah being a “support front” to Gaza. Not only did they fail in preventing the genocide taking place, but now Gaza will once again take the brunt of the aggression.

      • meth_dragon [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        26 days ago

        still unclear to me which combination of hezb/lebanese government are signatory to this but i fully expect this to just be a smokescreen for both sides to regroup and continue to escalate

        notably, israel needs time and trump to get its ad (and everything else) together, while iran needs to finalize its defence treaty with russia which hopefully has some kind of nuclear umbrella clause in it

    • estii [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      26 days ago

      It is very hard not to be a doomer about it.

      yeah, I’m feeling that a lot. Trying not to give myself over to it just yet, there’s still a lot that’s unclear. Hug someone you love, I’ll do the same.

    • CleverOleg [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      26 days ago

      most normal people sympathise with Palestine. The zionists are getting away with a lot but they have alienated a generation

      I’m still fairly plugged into the white American Evangelical community - a community whose support for Zionism is well known. And one of the more surprising things to me over the last year was how, both IRL and online, I could barely find any evangelicals under 45 who actually support Israel. Not the same thing as supporting Palestinian liberation - that was extremely rare in that group. But still, not what I was expecting to see.

    • merthyr1831@lemmy.ml
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      26 days ago

      My short feelings:

      Hezbollah has defeated Israel, there is no arguing that Israel failed to penetrate Lebanon nearly as much as 2006, despite being given over twice as long to do so. Despite this, it has also suffered a massive blow; both to losing Nasrallah but also much of its upper command. Hezb preaches strength but it has finished the war weaker than it started.

      The war in Lebanon was untenable for Israel, and the ceasefire is the best pile of shit in a mountain of shit. Even despite how badly this front was going, it was still able to act with total impunity against a sovereign state and UN troops. This war has proven to Netanyahu that there are genuinely no red lines for the intl. community, which is a dangerous world to live in for us all.