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Dispatches

1) Ricard Gonáalez, “Mohamed VI celebra que Israel haya reconocido la soberanía marroquí sobre el Sáhara; El monarca alaba en su discurso de la Fiesta del Trono la candidatura conjunta con España y Portugal al Mundial de 2030 porque ‘une África y Europa’,” El País, el 29 de julio 2023 (17:48 EDT);

2) Donald J. Trump, “Proclamation on Recognizing The Sovereignty Of The Kingdom Of Morocco Over The Western Sahara,” U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Morocco, December 10, 2020;

3) Jacob Mundy, “The U.S. recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. Here’s what that means; The Trump administration’s move could complicate efforts to resolve a long-standing territorial conflict, Washington Post, December 11, 2020 (2:18 p.m. EST);

4) Joseph Stepansky, “Why Biden’s Western Sahara policy remains under review;Experts raise questions as Biden administration reviews Trump’s recognition of Moroccan claim to disputed territory,” Al Jazeera, June 13, 2021;

5) Monir Ghaedi, “Morocco and Western Sahara: A new conflict brewing?; With Israel recognizing Western Sahara as part of the Moroccan kingdom and a contentious fishing agreement between Morocco and the EU expiring, tensions are intensifying between the Polisario Front, Morocco and Algeria,” DW, July 19, 2023;

07/19/2023July 19, 2023

Analysis

It is hard to keep upmwith developments that signify the gradual crumbling of tge international legal order based on tge U.N. Charter and international law when everyone else seems to assume that international law is irrelevant, if they’ve even heard about it or ever studied it seriously.

We are a long way from the days of James Reston, Tom Wicker, and Anthony at tge New York Times.

We have a Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who has a law degree from Yale but who cares so little about international law that he has not even nominated and secured Senate ratification of the State Zdeoartment Legal Adviser, the most senior expert on international law in the government who leads tge Office if tge Legal Avuser, an office with tbe best international lawyers in the government, who speak for tge United States.

Current foreign affairs reporters either know little about ibternational law or have editors who are ignorant if the subject.

How else can we explain the lack if international law analysis when Donald J. Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara, breaking 88 years of U.S. foreign policy by ignoring the Stimson Doctrine, adopted in 1932, which prohibits the recognition of territory illegally acquired by force.

It is no surprise that Israel has recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over tge Western Sahara, acqyuired illegally in violation of the U.N. Charter, as Israel would like to claim sovereignty over the entire West Bank, in violation of international law.

This development is part of tge socalled “Abraham Accords which oppened thecwayntonrecignition of Israel byba number of Arab states. Brokered by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, the role of Kushner has raised serious ethical questions, particularly in the light of reports that the Saidis have invested several billion dollars in Kushner’s or his family’s projects and properties.

As Al Jazeera points out, how can the U.S. object to recognition of the Crimea, acquired bybthe illegal use of force, when it recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over territory itvacquired by the illegal use of force?

We take note. This is how the international legal order starts to crumble.

The Trenchant Observer

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