 Over the past few weeks, as we have discussed the war in Ukraine, a recurrent theme has been the issue of energy, the issue of supplies of natural gas from Russia to Europe to many other countries. But what we see also is that a similar conflict, similar tension is taking place also in North Africa involving countries such as Algeria, Morocco, as well as Spain and of course the United States. We will be talking about all this in this episode of Mapping Fortlines. We are joined by Prabir Prakash, a lot of events happening in this region. So one of the latest events is that Algeria, which used to supply gas to Spain, it suspended that in October last year. But now Algeria is very concerned that Spain intends to supply natural gas back to Morocco using one of those pipelines. And there's a lot of history in this conflict. There's Western Sahara, the struggle for sovereignty over there. But let's take issues one by one. First of all, could you just take us through the major tensions right now between Algeria, Spain and Morocco? Well, as you said, the major tension between Algeria, Morocco and Spain is not to do with gas. It is to do with Western Sahara. And the fact that in the Sahara way in the public, the Polisario, various versions of this have been there, that Morocco has not got sovereignty over this part. There has been an independence movement which has declared independence, which most countries have either not recognized but kept their hands off, not getting involved in it, saying the people of the republic have to decide where they want to go and rejected at least officially Morocco's claims. Now that Morocco's claims have been accepted by the United States and recently Spain, Algeria is pushing back because it sees this as disturbing the equilibrium in North Africa. And of course, Algeria has gas, which it supplies to Spain. It is the key supplier of gas and fuel to Spain. And I think about more than 40% in 2021, 40% came from Algeria. So given the fact that Europe is facing a gas crunch because of Russia, energy crunch because LNG or oil, both are in short supply in the world today. The fact that the US is trying to also muscle into this market, looking at Russian oil and gas being squeezed out of Europe. So if you also are going to annoy your other major supplier, in this case Algeria, which is what Spain seems to have done, you are really riding for a fall. And of course, the argument that Spain has given that we will send independent gas, which is not from Algeria to Morocco and the gas that comes from Algeria, we will not send. Now these, as you know, are rather difficult to establish because ultimately it's a common pipeline. Therefore, of course, the gases mix, whether you're getting from an LNG terminal, putting it in the pipeline or getting it from the bed gas pipeline, putting it to the common pipeline. Of course, gases will mix. So what you have is input output. That's all you really get. If you're going to claim that this can be separated, the two gases can be separated. It is actually a banker's fiction or an accounting fiction. That's all that it is. And Algeria therefore has raised certified that each molecule that is going is not Algerian gas. So both these are really not feasible. The question is, Spain, why is it doing it? And I think that's a far more interesting question. It is also because Morocco has become much more important in North Africa. In fact, in Africa, because the French, really the colonial powers in Francophone Africa at the moment depends more on the United States. And you can see the African has become quite active with Africa, particularly Northern Africa. And the United States sees Morocco as a linchpin of their North African or West African venture. So recognizing the importance of Morocco, they have got them to sign the Abraham Accords. Also in return for Morocco's recognition of Israel. Yes. There has been a quid pro quo. Recognize Israel and will recognize your claim to Western Sahara. This has been the US ploy. And I think behind that there has been a much deeper engagement with Morocco using Morocco as the new genre of US imperialism as well as French colonialism. I think these two are merging together and there you will see that Morocco is playing a much more important role than what it did earlier because of the weakening of French colonialism or its colonial adventures or its colonial empire. And today a number of countries in Africa have their currencies linked to the French in fact budget so that there is a completely neocolonial grip over the economies. So I think United States desire to see Morocco play a more important role is also a very big issue over here. Right. But in this context, like you said, the other interesting aspect is the fact that the US is also trying to enter the energy market in a large way as well. So we do see that in recent times the United States has become Spain's largest supplier of natural gas after Algeria stopped some of the supplies last year. So in the context of the Ukraine war as well, how do we understand this attempt by the US? Does it have that kind of capacity? Where is it coming from? Well, you know, the fact remains that Europe is dependent on oil, natural gas, liquid certified natural gas either in West Asia or in the United States or in Russia. These are its three major sources. And I'm counting, you know, West Asia, North Africa together in this in the larger context. It's a common geographical entity, so to say. So if you look at these three areas, obviously, if you want to cut Russian gas out, you have to increase the others. The problem is that the US cannot supply through a pipeline. It is rather far away from Europe. So therefore, LNG. But LNG requires LNG handling facilities. And those Spain has built a fair amount of LNG facilities. For example, like in upper north of Europe, Poland has built or east of Europe, Poland has built more LNG facilities, so have certain other countries. But that is completely inadequate to meet the amount of gas that Europe requires. That is why they are so slow to impose sanctions on Russia. They know the consequences. It also has a consequence of another kind. If there is a shortage of oil and gas, then of course prices go up and we can see whatever Russia might have suffered because of the sanction in terms of quantity, it has gained in terms of price. In fact, more than compensated in the price price that has taken place. And you can see therefore, ruble strength strengthening against the dollar. Well, the currencies that have fallen is of course the euro, which has fallen against the dollar. And so is Japanese yen. These are all countries which need to import gas and oil. So you already see the equation changing, but United States cannot fulfill the amount of energy requirement that Europe has. But at the same time, the consequence of Europe is not of the United States. Unfortunately, Europe seems to have decided that it is going to commit harakiri, at least an energy harakiri in order to subserve US goals. And US goals are essentially as their leaders have clearly now said from Biden down to their secretaries of state defense that regime change, change of Putin as the head of Russia. And also weakening Russia is the prime interest in Ukraine. So given that, I think the energy supplies the other part of the puzzle that weakening European Union, long-term dependency of European Union on the United States is also part of what they're attempting to do. And energy is very central to that effort. Right, absolutely. And Praveen, again, coming back to the North African region in between all this, like we've said, one major casualty is the cause of the Saravi people. And what we see is that in this geopolitical game, Morocco, like you said, has become a key linchpin of the US strategy, of the European strategy. And so the price for that is the aspirations of the Saravi people are suppressed despite the fact that the UN has, there's a recommendation for a referendum which has never been done. So in that way, what the Saravi people are facing is quite similar to what the Palestinians are facing as well. Or what the Yemeni people are facing. Exactly. That sort of being sacrificed because the ruling classes in some of these countries are so important for global imperialism. And when it comes to that, all the talk about the rights of the people which you hear in Ukraine, you do not hear in the Saravi People's Republic, Western Sahara, you do not hear about it in Yemen. So you can see, of course, you don't hear about it in Palestine at all. In fact, if you raise the issue of Palestine, you'll be called anti-Semitic. So given all of this, the hypocrisy of the West, particularly the leading Western powers, are clear. The question is, why is the other powers in the world at the moment silent? In raising that if you want an improper, quote unquote, rule-based international order, it is returned to the United Nations. But that is what, of course, the Western powers don't want to do, a G20. But we will not invite Putin to the G20. So the rules of the game is what we will decide. But you know, Morocco is a very special player over here, and you must recognize that. It after its relationship with Israel, establishing relations with Israel, it also bought Pegasus on this. And in fact, it Pegasus software that it used probably is the one which infected the French leadership's phones. It also seems to have been something that they used against even the Spanish leadership. We don't know. But Petro Sanchez's phone was infected. And at the same time, it also seems that Spain also used it. The government uses it against the Catalonian forces, which want independence, the Basques who want independence, particularly the Catalonian movements, which want independence, who are supporting this government. So you also have this Pegasus in Roglio, which involves both Spain and Morocco. And we do not know to what extent Morocco is willing, because if it could infect the phones of the French, who are not adverse to Morocco, it does seems to be that they love playing with this new toy they have got. So can they find out what the Spanish prime minister is doing, what the French president is doing, and so on. So it sort of also raises important issues with respect to spyware that Israel has so freely lent into the world, lent within courts. Part of it to increase its political penetration, part of it is purely money. And many reports, of course, saying, Prabir, that Morocco is one of the harshest police states in the world, especially when you go to Western Sahara. It's still a monarchy. Absolutely. Thank you so much for talking to us. And that's all we have time for today. We'll be covering many such issues in future episodes of Mapping Fortlines. Until then, keep watching Newsclick.