We were all surprised and stunned by this announcement in Al Jazeera : GCC member countries agreed to consider Jordan and Morocco’s requests to join the council !!
Yes the Gulf cooperation council which initially is made of countries on the Arabian/Persian Gulf “it is up to you” has agreed to think of having Jordan and Morocco in the council seriously and it seems that they will accept the requests. According to my primary geographical information neither Jordan nor Morocco are on the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The only Gulf Jordan has got is the Gulf of Aqaba , other than that I do not have I do not see any relation between Jordan and the Gulf states except the very old fact that the founder of the Hashemite dynasty and Transjordan that Jordan was actually from Mecca in Arabic “Modern day Saudi Arabia” !!!
Neither I do see any relation between Morocco and the GCC except they are Arab countries , I mean Morocco for God sake in Africa !!! This is the perfect time to say the famous proverb “What brought the Moroccan to the Shami !?” Of course we will remove Shami and put instead of it GCC !? Already did not Morocco want to join the EU ?
Why would Morocco and Jordan join the GCC while Iraq is not invited !? I do not need to mention Yemen because it is actually not on the Arabian Gulf amazingly just like Morocco and Jordan !!
Amazingly enough the only common factors between Jordan and Morocco from one side and the GCC countries on the other side aside of being Arab countries are being monarchies and allies to the States. If Jordan and Morocco become GCC members, we will have the MCC not the GCC as MCC stands for Monarchies cooperation council !! These are actually the only monarchies in the Arab world now.
From political view these countries share the same view when it comes to regional policies , they are from these moderate countries or to be accurate allies to the States and the West. This is why it reminds me with the Baghdad Pact. There is no doubt that the GCC countries and the United States do not like this shift in Egypt policies despite I can’t call a real radical shift , it is not like the 1950s and 1960s. We have not got a new Nasser in Cairo that would scare the Western backed monarchies.
Jordan and Morocco will benefit economically from this step though , still honestly I do not get except I see it as a Neo royalist Baghdad Pact in making.
It is worth to mention that both Morocco and Jordan witnessed protests demanding economic and political reforms yet unknown of them were explicitly against the King. ‘If we exclude that Jordanian tribes’ letter denouncing the royal family and calling Queen Rania Abdullah as Marie Antoinette’
Interestingly enough Jordan and Morocco have got official relations with Israel and if they join the joint GCC common visa , they will technically be allowed to entered the GCC freely.
A little historical fact : Mubarak wanted Egypt to join the GCC in 1991 but Iraq invaded Kuwait and suddenly the project became history. Again I do not know why we would join the GCC , may be because we have Suez Gulf and Aqaba gulf !!
This is one hell of challenge facing the new expected secretary general of LAS Mustafa El-Feki , I do not know if he will be able to face or not.
Yes the Gulf cooperation council which initially is made of countries on the Arabian/Persian Gulf “it is up to you” has agreed to think of having Jordan and Morocco in the council seriously and it seems that they will accept the requests. According to my primary geographical information neither Jordan nor Morocco are on the Arabian/Persian Gulf. The only Gulf Jordan has got is the Gulf of Aqaba , other than that I do not have I do not see any relation between Jordan and the Gulf states except the very old fact that the founder of the Hashemite dynasty and Transjordan that Jordan was actually from Mecca in Arabic “Modern day Saudi Arabia” !!!
Neither I do see any relation between Morocco and the GCC except they are Arab countries , I mean Morocco for God sake in Africa !!! This is the perfect time to say the famous proverb “What brought the Moroccan to the Shami !?” Of course we will remove Shami and put instead of it GCC !? Already did not Morocco want to join the EU ?
Why would Morocco and Jordan join the GCC while Iraq is not invited !? I do not need to mention Yemen because it is actually not on the Arabian Gulf amazingly just like Morocco and Jordan !!
Amazingly enough the only common factors between Jordan and Morocco from one side and the GCC countries on the other side aside of being Arab countries are being monarchies and allies to the States. If Jordan and Morocco become GCC members, we will have the MCC not the GCC as MCC stands for Monarchies cooperation council !! These are actually the only monarchies in the Arab world now.
From political view these countries share the same view when it comes to regional policies , they are from these moderate countries or to be accurate allies to the States and the West. This is why it reminds me with the Baghdad Pact. There is no doubt that the GCC countries and the United States do not like this shift in Egypt policies despite I can’t call a real radical shift , it is not like the 1950s and 1960s. We have not got a new Nasser in Cairo that would scare the Western backed monarchies.
Jordan and Morocco will benefit economically from this step though , still honestly I do not get except I see it as a Neo royalist Baghdad Pact in making.
It is worth to mention that both Morocco and Jordan witnessed protests demanding economic and political reforms yet unknown of them were explicitly against the King. ‘If we exclude that Jordanian tribes’ letter denouncing the royal family and calling Queen Rania Abdullah as Marie Antoinette’
Interestingly enough Jordan and Morocco have got official relations with Israel and if they join the joint GCC common visa , they will technically be allowed to entered the GCC freely.
A little historical fact : Mubarak wanted Egypt to join the GCC in 1991 but Iraq invaded Kuwait and suddenly the project became history. Again I do not know why we would join the GCC , may be because we have Suez Gulf and Aqaba gulf !!
This is one hell of challenge facing the new expected secretary general of LAS Mustafa El-Feki , I do not know if he will be able to face or not.
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| Mustafa El-Feki in his most famous position in the parliament "By Yara Kassem" |
Maybe it's a way to balance the power in the region in reply to Egypt's new rising influences.
ReplyDeleteExcellent link - with reference to the Monarchical systems of government...
ReplyDeleteThe GCC refers to countries of the Persian Gulf - not the Red Sea...
Iraq requested membership of the GCC post-Saddam's downfall but this was rebuffed by members due to Iraq's problems and economic situation...
Strange, taking into account the fact that Iraq's oil exports dwarf those of Oman and Bahrain many times over...
The Red Sea States have the Sanaa Grouping, actually it's for East Africa / Horn of Africa States and includes - Sudan, Yemen, Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia - however the 'GCC' has nothing to do with the Red Sea.
It is laughable to include Morocco within the GCC!
I wonder what will come of Mubarak's Mediterranean Union - which would have included Egypt, troubled Syria and Libya which is undergoing a painful re-birth...
Sudanese Commentator
They are reacting out of fear not rationality. It is more of an anti-Islamic Republic of Iran pact than an anti-Egypt pact. It's a mistake in my opinion, especially Saudi & Bahrain. You will see, despite oil, US needs democracies in the ME. Saudi does not qualify. Culturally US has little in common, except for the Neo-Con Oil tycoons.
ReplyDeleteThe model in Egypt will be irresistable, when it is successful and if it avoids certain wrong turns. You need tourists and to be open to the world. Iran and Saudi get zero tourists but they have oil and neither are examples to follow. Turkey is OK but only recent and with EU influence (don't underestimate beneficial EU pressure). Turkey is incoherent in its likes &dislikes. Likes OmarBashir,Ahmadinijad &Assad. Doesn't
like Netanyahu. Somewhat hypocritical.
Hi Zeinobia... what is that adage "the Moroccan to Shami..."? Never heard of ;-)
ReplyDeleteyou are missing the point dear, the geography is limited to the name, the alliance is about much more than that
ReplyDeletehopefully it will lead to an EU style alliance that includes all the arab countries in the future
@Nour , it is very famous proverb.
ReplyDelete@M , I though the League of Arab states is doing this job already !?
pirooz - doesn't Egypt also like Bashir...?
ReplyDeletewhat do you think about that??
Morocco member of the GCC?... LOL.
ReplyDeleteI am a Moroccan and I was not aware that Morocco had ever requested to be a member of the GCC. I was under the impression that the GCC club was exclusive to those with oil and money. This cannot be good news for the people of Morocco. It will be a disaster; the GCC is full of corrupt and anti-democracy regimes. What made them think of us?
Just so that the Emirs in KSA and UAE we are 35 millions you will need to have a 2 millions troop to be able to control our people, we are not Bahrain.
"These are actually the only monarchies in the Arab world now. "
ReplyDeleteyou forgot Syria but that will soon change HAHAHA fuck Saudi Arabia and those gulf bastards, after Libya gets rid of the moron and Algeria joins the club, the NAU (North African Union) will bomb those stupid "countries" back in oblivion where they belong, let them drown in their stinky oil.
The GCC is not a model for anything useful. It is a club of families with large farms and few millions of livestock. If the GCC was sincere about pan-Arab cooperation, they should have opened up to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen then think about Morocco. Moroccans have lot more in common with Algerians, Tunisians, Libyans and Mauritanians and Egyptians than we do with the GCC. The GCC people are our brothers and we love them but I am very skeptical about the ruling families’ intensions.
ReplyDeleteIn the 80’s they pushed Hassan II to send troops to Iraq to defend the eastern front of the “Arab nation”, most of these troops stayed in Iraq and became part of the Iraqi army. In the 90’s again the GCC asked Morocco to send troops to defend KSA from Iraq. We ended-up having Moroccan troops on both sides shooting at each other which was very sad and ironic. We refuse to be used as sand bags for ANYBODY. Leave us alone and we will be just fine.
honestly this doesn't make sense
ReplyDeletein fact it's a joke
i thought countries go forward and improve the situation , not the other way around
Morocco has nothing to offer to the arabs except his problems
i mean a lot of problems
i am from Morocco and i think the arabs made a big mistake
it's like surffing in the net without antivirus
Morocco is full of gangstersm theifs, it's world first exporter of hashihs and jobless people and many bad things for the arabs
Well, considering Bashir & Turabi removed 2million from their homes and burned their villages I don't know what there is to like.
ReplyDeleteThis is ongoing and endless. Step1 -removal. Step2- slow death.
To the Morroccan: Morrocco has people- much more valuable than oil. I know it doesn't seem like that some times.
pirooz - Sudan's civil war started in 1955, one year before independence - get real - Egypt is in no position to make moral judgements re: Sudan's crises, all it cares about are its food and water interests.
ReplyDeletethe gcc who invite morocco cuz they r afraid from iran an morocco have problem with iran so the same view and dont forget that morocco is the only country in whole arab world that has an adavanced statut with europeen union so its the bridge of all the arabic world
ReplyDelete"What brought the Moroccan to the Shami?"
ReplyDeleteAre Moroccans not generous or something...I don't get that proverb.
Morocco should be landing on its ONLY road to prosperity by focusing on Maghreb Union integration and achieving democracy. Membership of the GCC? We have to turn away from such farfetchedness, such a proposition is not based on reason or anyone's interests. Do the Gulf countries imagine Moroccan soldiers putting down their domestic revolutionary protests--should they occur? I think the Gulf people should protest against this devious conspiracy. The Gulf is the only Arab region that matters to Morocco--the others offer us absolutely and categorically nothing--so it would be sensible to avoid jeopardizing our long-term relationship by assisting governments there in killing protesters, lest we turn future Gulf regimes against us.
The monarchs are scared, revolution "threats" shocked them & they want to make sure they remind the people whos boss. Iran is no where near innocent but dont blame it when tiny bahrain naturalized enough persians to become the majority. Gcc accepts when its necessary. Desperate times call 4 desperate measures. Jordan & morocco have relations with israel but gulf doesnt. If this happens does it mean gcc oil puppets & "moderate" arab regimes would be "potected" & improved by the US to neutralize the bad ones? Another US advantage is weakening iran infuence, politically militarilly & economically.
ReplyDeleteim a moroccan and happy to be part of gcc coz this is just a beginig of arabs union and u will know in the futur egypt will joing tunis and libye and yemen and algerie and mouritanie .we will be one strong familly and do not forgot that we are arabs all of us we are from one father and we are muslims
ReplyDeletebest regards ,
abdelmalek belghiti
Arab union starts with the GCC?? an exculsive club to cultureless oil-rich slave-labouring monarchies? Nasser is turning in his grave.....
ReplyDeleteWill Libya be next ? It has a gulf, the Gulf of Sidra so the only thing to do is looking for a king. A grandson of King Idris ?
ReplyDeleteWell as we all know that the gulf countries have poor armies.As we speak,some gulf countries get their army/police training from Jordan and the Jordanians get their trainings from england.it has one of the best army in the Arab world. Morocco also has a good and strong army.for Morocco and Jordan to join it will boost its economy and their people will stop complaining.in return they will boost the Gulf security.the Moroccan army would help on the Saudi Yamani border and the Jordanian army would keep Syria and south Lebanon away from the gulf cause we all know they get support from Iran.also Jordan has very good relations with almost everybody and they are always neutral.so that may help in the Iranian gulf problems over land and more.in conclusion never form an opinion without knowing what are u talking about.it is like asking a taxi driver to talk about how to fly planes.and no you are not special.Peace
ReplyDeleteWhat if the taxi driver has a Cessna license?
ReplyDeleteYou sound so negative about this membership and obviously against it! Your argument of geographical separation is weak and naive. Are you by any chance jealous for your own country?
ReplyDeleteAnd besides, what's wrong with a monarchy if the leaders in kingdoms achieve concrete results for their people and if there is massive support for these kings, as is the case in Morocco, for exaple.
As a Moroccan, I wouldn't like to be part of GCC. We are more close to Europe in distance, culture, orientations and future expectations.
ReplyDeleteWe were invited to GCC, we didn't put any requests.
We look higher and the gulf countries aren't in the horizon.
Countries are arbitrarily defined masses of land with artificial borders (as defined by European explorers). How do we know that Spain and Saudi Arabia are not part of Africa? Is not the land naturally continuous thru the Suez Peninsula? Is not Eurasia a continent that contains Europe and Asia? If the definition of continent bypasses continuity of land, does not Saudi Arabia have more in common with Morocco than it does with China?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, is not the USA a member of NATO despite its different continental presence? The new proposed GCC is mainly a political alliance for whatever common reasons there might be, much like the EU includes Greece but excludes Russia. As the French President stated, Europe has its political borders. The economic and social aspect is secondary.
Integration might be hard in the short run as is the case with Greece, but it could be feasible over the long haul.
Regardless what the reasons currently are,it will eventually lead to a greater Arab Alliance out of necessity.
I second the sentiments of Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteFor better or worse the GCC is actually the most successful and viable grouping of Member States of the Arab League...
Yes the GCC is at best rudimentary, not comprising an as yet workable economic or security based union (Saudi intervention in Bahrain notwithstanding)...
But kudos to them for thinking outside of the box.
What mutually benefitial relations has Egypt managed to forge with Sudan in half a Century..?
Sudanese commentator
first of all, i can see a kind of envious attitude in the text above, the one who wrote seems to hate morocco and jordan.
ReplyDeleteplease stop saying (...shami lalmaghribi) moroccans don't care if you think that you are better than them even though you are not,
the only reason why morocco and jordan joined GCC is that they are all kingdoms, simple as that :)
please have some respect and stop acting like a fool racist. if your country joined GCC, you would be happy, isn't it. so stop showing that kind of envy words. thanks
Moroccan and proud
THE BLESSING OF ANY COUNTRY COMES FROM ALLAH, GCC COUNTRIES ARE WELL OFF AND ARE MANAGING THEIR COUNTRIES MUCH BETTER THAN ANY COUNTRIES IN THE ARAB WORLD, MOROCCO AND JORDAN WILL CERTAIN LEARN FROM DUBAI AND SAUDI EXPERIENCE IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE. i AM ALL FOR THIS EXCELLENT ALLIANCE. MAY ALLAH UNIT THIS UMA
ReplyDeleteI am a Gulf national and people in the Gulf are not clear about this membership. We ask each other many questions like why Morocco and Jordan? What is common besides them being kingdoms too? They will definately benefit from us financially but " what is in it for us?". I anticipate problems. If what the others have said is true - using Jordanian and Moroccon men for military purposes - then that is so self-centred and derived purely from fear. I am ashamed. As a Gulf national, I think our kings are also afraid that one day their people could ask them to leave...who would they resort to then? Local soldiers? For how long will they torture and kill their own brothers and sisters?! See what happened in Egypt...the military joined hands with their fellow brothers. We love each other here in the GCC area and the little misunderstandings we have are like sibling rivalry. These troops will be used against us to protect the royal families...So I am totally against this invitation or acceptance. Many Gulf nationals are pessimistic about this all and see no benefit in it. There was no consideration for the Gulf people...we were not asked or even told before the others outside the GCC area. In addition, he GCC hasn't reached to a level of maturity and success to start asking other nations to join in. There are so many pending projects that were promised decades ago and we haven't seen anything until this day. I really think we should focus on how to strengthen our relationships, solve our own problems internally, even further improve our economies (we have unemployment and poverty just like others), boost the higher education sector, focus on developing the Gulf national for a more challenging future. This is how i see the whole matter. But at the end, let us all wait to hear what the officials will say.
ReplyDeleteEgypt and Egyptians should concentrate on their mess and leave Morocco alone. When you do as well as we do in many regards, and maybe a comparison between Morocco and Egypt would be useful as to their actual achievements in development and economic matters, then you can allow yourselves to critique or give us advice's on our strategical options. Until then, its better to keep quiet. I have to say that I find your post to be quite misguided to say the least, really, please, concentrate on putting your house in order before getting nosy about other people's stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhat's in it for Morocco and Jordan if they join? Will they be full members? I think NOT! Will Moroccans and Jordanians roam freely in and out of these GCC countries? I think NOT!
ReplyDeleteThis, if it happens at all, will be a membership with many conditions. The GCC countries are mostly looking for the military "mighty" so to speak of these two monarchies-compared to their own militaries- to defend them if any trouble should arise. Apart from that, I don't think that the majority of the people in the GCC countries do like Jordanians nor do they like Moroccans.
This is a political move rather than anything else. If it's not going to benefit the people of the two monarchies, why bother?