Lost in dreams

or dreamy settings in Morocco..

Many back home are clueless about Morocco. They know very little about it.. Sadly, even now, I know very little about it..

Looks tempting, isn’t it?

That is how the Moroccan board of tourism defines the beauties of the kingdom. And in fact, the country is THAT beautiful. One can’t really be mystified by Moroccan beauties through its big cities, but once you’re out there.. well.. you’re simply want to stay out.

For those who might not “feel” the speechless ad, I’ll write you the intepretation.

*Listen to the soft traditional instrument playing

A man, weary he seems, perhaps he has been living a hard live in foreign continent, arrived in a country where he just want to be away from all things that cause his weariness.

No stranger to rejection, he finds it awkward to find a friendly, almost familial welcome at a riad in Marakesh, one of Moroccan royal cities.

Activities in medina don’t slow down along with the setting sun. At Place Djemaa el Fnaa, as the sunsets, the banquet commence.

….

Tweet tweet.. from air and ground

Turkey

Read my back..

..said Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan who received hero’s welcome home by about a thousand of Turks.

PM Erdogan, stormed out of the room, sans adieu to world leaders and economic decision makers after a heated debate with Israel’s Simon Peres at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, never to return.

Aljazeera Reports said that during the debat, Israel’s number one “opened verbal fire” asking what would Turkey do if Istanbul was to have rockets every night.

After failing several times to rebut Israel’s head of state rambling in defense of Gaza attack, Turkish PM finally managed to pawn him. And then, the pissed-off PM stormed out of the room, leaving Davos forum attendees stunned.

“When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill,” said angered Erdogan.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said that PM’s has given a necessary response.

Morocco

Regulations for regulators wanted, said parties.

Two Morrocan parties plead a law destined to hamper act of absentism at the parlement — both chamber of representatives and chamber of councelors.

An interesting bit appeared on Aufait, a local francophone daily; given out for free in Casablanca and other big Moroccan cities, Thursday revealed that as many as 70% (perhaps more) parlement members regularly dodge official meetings!

According to a councelor, who requested anonymity, most of the parlement members are “millionaires” who seek a “parlementary titles for benefits”.

“Absentism of the parlement members is a fact reality which reflects their incompetences. Many of them care only to protect their personal interests. And that ruines the image of the legislative institution”, said Youssef Billal, a professor of the political sciences at the Université Mohammed V Rabat, who spoke to Aufait’s stringer by phone.

An official was caught on picture (au fait 14 January, page 2), struggling to solve a numeric challenge… of Sudoku.

Bed of thorns for Morocco and Chavezuela..(?)

What about?

It’s about Moroccan international relations with Venezuela and neighbor Algeria.

The relation between Morocco and Venezuela is now far then bed of roses,  about a week or so ago, the administrative capital Rabat officially announced that the kingdom is closing its embassy in Caracas for supporting the independence and foundation of the West Sahara country.

After its independence from Spain, the West Sahara has been administered by Morocco since the 1975,   The kingdom grants an autonomy status to the area.

According to an AP article, Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hint “growing hostility” of Venezuelan authorities toward Morocco’s territorial integrity, a reference to the Western Sahara, as the main reason of the kingdom’s embassy closure.

Interestingly, an AFP article appeared on Au Fait Maroc said that Rabat’s official source claimed that the closing of embassy is NOT a sign of deteriorating relationship between the two nations.

However, Caracas second that opinion, stating that Morocco’s move was based on “wrong” and “baseless” reasons.

Jillian York who writes for Global Voices Online, compiled the reactions from the blogosphere.

And? What’s Algeria got to do with anything? Well.. The Western Saharawi rebels are backed by the Algeria.

Since 1994, Morocco closed its border with Algeria. About end of 2008, there were some talks about the plan to re-open the borders, but after the thorny situation with Chavezuela, it seems that King Mohamed VI has a change of heart, as reported by the Magreb Arabe Presse.

What’s next for Morocco, Algeria, and Venezuela? It’s a “stand by” and “listen” for the concerned.

The “O” Moment

A couple of hours ago, Barrack Obama was sworn in as USA’s 44th President. Born from Kenyan father and white American mother from Kansas, Barack Obama himself is a concoction of American dream.

In his inaugural speech, he almost didn’t mention the word “race”. Looking back the US history, about 60 years ago the country was a home to caucasians and those who are not. At that era, the “coloured” people were declined to vote.

Today, millions of Americans and non-Americans witnessed how Democracy in USA has evolved beyond skin color.

President Obama knows how to capture the public’s attention throught his speech, hopefully he would be able to capture the attention of both US citizens and international with his actions.

On the lighter side, today my eyes were fixed on a quirky article of today’s edition of Au Fait.

The article was talking about a Javanese dude called Ilham Anas, Obama’s look-a-like.

It’s curious to find a local publication interested by Anas.

The full article is in French but the check it out anyway, besides a picture speaks a-one-hundred-fifty words.

Oh, one more thing..  A Dutch pub in Kuta, Bali introduced a new cocktail called Arak Obama today while showing live on big screen the inaugural ceremony. For those who don’t know what Arak is, click here.