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Few could recall the US-backed invasion of the Western Sahara in 1976, justified by Moroccan authorities on the grounds that ‘one Kuwait in the Arab world is enough’. Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy
I’m going to die in Casablanca; it’s a good spot for it. Casablanca 1942 ***** starring Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman & Paul Henreid & Claude Rains & Conrad Veidt & Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre & Curt Bois et al, director Michael Curtiz
We wanted something thoroughly and uncompromisingly foreign – foreign from top to bottom – foreign from center to circumference – foreign inside and outside and all around – nothing anywhere about it to dilute its foreignness – nothing to remind us of any other people or any other land under the sun. And lo! in Tangier we have found it. Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad ch8
The Sahara Desert ... From here a group of desert nomads came to transform the northwest corner of Africa into a vast empire that stretched from the Sahara to Spain. Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, Lost Kingdoms of Africa III: The Berber Kingdom of Morocco, BBC 2010
A kingdom which lasted for centuries. Its rulers generated tremendous wealth, created great architecture and promoted sophisticated ideas in an ordered society. They were called the Berber. ibid.
They had one simple mission: jihad. ibid.
Moreover, Sarkozy is also accused of involvement in the 2004 bombings in Casablanca. 3/11: The Ripple Effect
Desert nomads fear a demonic succubus is to blame for a rash of recent mutilations. Destination Truth s4e7, Skyfy 2010
Men are chasing one woman to their deaths. A beautiful creature called Aisha Kandisha. She appears in the night. ibid.
Morocco’s output has never been higher. The hash trade nets nearly eleven billion dollars a year and provides a livelihood for around eight-hundred thousand people. Drugs Inc s2e2: Hash, National Geographic 2012
The Sahara Desert, Mali, home to one of the Earth’s most mysterious and legendary places. Africa’s fabled city of gold – Timbuktu. Alice Morrison, Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure I, BBC 2017
An intoxicating mix of new experiences, danger and untold wealth. ibid.
First up, the historic trading port of Tangier, on the northernmost tip of Morocco. ibid.
Fes, the ancient capital of Morocco, dating from the eighth century. ibid.
I’m leaving Fes and heading for Marakech, the other great terminus at the northern end of the trans-Saharan trade route. ibid.
The Berbers or Amazigha are the indigenous people of north Africa. ibid.
The Sahara - the deadliest of deserts. It spans 11 countries, a vast area of more than 3 million square miles. It can reach staggering temperatures of 50 degrees plus. Alice Morrison, Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure II
For the traders of old it was a 50-day journey across the seemingly endless sands of the Sahara all the way to Timbuktu. ibid.
To this day slavery has never been officially abolished in Morocco. ibid.
Home to some of the cleverest rip-off artists in the world. Scam City s1e10: Marrakech
The old city – that’s where the action is. ibid.
The carpet scam … Everything that he said in fact was a lie. ibid.
There’s unemployment and poverty in Morocco. And in the rest of the huge continent to the south, millions want to enter the EU. Mediterranean with Simon Reeve IV, BBC 2018
It’s a beautiful country attracting more than 11 million tourists each year. Yet it’s an authoritarian undemocratic state. ibid.
November 1942: An armada of 200 British and American ships appears off the coast of north Africa. Operation Torch is about to begin. Right before the eyes of the local people, 100,000 men pour on to the beaches of Morocco and Algeria. It is this singular theatre, north Africa, that between 1940 and 1943 was written a famous chapter of the Second World War, the Desert War. Hitler’s Disastrous Desert War, National Geographic 2022
The Desert War, the war that nobody wanted, was to turn the World War upside down. ibid.
Rommel is waging an overly ambitious war without a care for one decisive element: fuel and supplies. ibid.
Morocco: A country of 38 million. And Africa’s most popular tourist destination. Famous for mosques and medinas and more recently football. Africa Rising with Afua Hirsch, BBC 2023