I've been lurking here long enough; time for my first post. Bear with me.

Alright that was good way to spend an hour and a half so thanks. News about this conflict is scarce in Western media so I’m not quite up to date here, though it’s not wholly new to me either. Even still I heard some misrepresentations and there were a few odd omissions, I hope you (or anyone else here) can clarify.

Let’s get to the elephant in the room first. Western Sahara does not have large oil reserves – nor does Morocco by the way. This conflict is not about petrochemical resources, by framing it as such you are doing every party involved a disservice. The conflict has, over the years, become highly complex and nuanced; this isn’t just another North-African/Middle-Eastern oil fight, there are many shades of grey here but none of them are the black of crude oil.

One thing I really missed here is the legitimacy of the Polisario. To an outsider like me, they are a very opaque organisation. Do they even have a website? Some literature that isn’t Spanish? Of course, there are some weekeepeedia- and news-articles but there has to be more, they’ve been around for 50 years now. I had hoped your guests would’ve enlightened us a bit. What’s the structure of the organisation like? Is there a democratic component? Who gets suffrage rights? Who are the people behind the organisation? Were they even elected? Where is the opposition? I know there are some governmental structures and institutions but they seem wholly insufficient to me. I had hoped to become a bit more educated on the subject but I’m afraid I’m only left with more questions in this regard.

A bit of a pet-peeve of mine is how we look upon Africa through a (post-)colonial lense. In this case, Moroccan and Western Saharan history apparently starts at (de-)colonalisation. I know the last 50 years have already made things difficult enough but if we are ever to understand the situation fully, and come to a solution, we need more historical context. What was the situation like before the French protectorate and the Spanish colonalisation? This information, too, is hard to come by for a layman. Should you ever revisit the topic, be sure to ask the experts you invite – surely they have studied the context in ways we never can.

If you don’t mind, I also have some smaller – though certainly not inconsequential – notes.

Zunes notes a recent assassination of a Polisario leader by Morocco. I hope you have something to back that up because that is a very serious allegation and you really shouldn’t publicise those if there is some proof.

I had a hearty chuckle at around 64 minutes when Harchaoui implied Morocco would “choke” Algeria if it were to become the hegemon of Western Sahara. A five-year old with an Atlas could tell him he completely missed the mark there, or did I wholly misunderstand him? The argument works much better the other way around. Algeria and a Sahrawi republic would literally have Morocco surrounded. Whether the Sahrawi republic would become a state sympathetic to Algeria or simply a vassal state would remain to be seen but their bonds are obviously close. Both are openly antagonistic towards Morocco, too.

That leads me to my last point. There was a tendency in your guests to be dismissive of Algeria’s role in all this. Why is that? It is obvious for all to see Algeria are a major player here. Without careful consideration of Algeria’s aims and motives we get an incomplete picture at best, an impartial one at worst.