Annexations show the depth of Putin’s imperial delusion

Analysis by Ishaan Tharoor

Columnist

October 5, 2022 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen on screens in Moscow during the broadcast of a speech on Sept. 30. (Reuters)

On the ground, Russia’s war effort is reeling. Ukrainian forces accelerated their advances on territories occupied by Russian troops and their separatist proxies, liberating towns in the southern Kherson region while also moving toward Luhansk in the east. After taking back Russian-controlled areas in the northeast Kharkiv region in a lightning campaign last month, Ukraine is hoping to remove Russia’s last footholds north and west of the Dnieper River, which will cripple the Kremlin’s already-waning ability to mount its own campaign on the strategic Ukrainian port of Odesa.

“The Ukrainian armed forces commanders in the south and east are throwing problems at the Russian chain of command faster than the Russians can effectively respond,” said a Western official who briefed my colleagues about sensitive security information on the condition of anonymity. “And this is compounding the existing dysfunction within the Russian invasion force.

Morale and unit cohesion among the Russian brigades on the front are in tatters, with Ukrainian strikes on Russian ammunition and supply depots exacting a critical toll. At home, it’s getting equally grim. Some estimates found that 700,000 people — about 1 out of every 200 Russians — left the country in the space of less than two weeks since President Vladimir Putin ordered a “partial mobilization” of troops to reinforce his faltering invasion.

The current state of play follows the Ukrainian recapture over the weekend of the city of Lyman, a key transit hub in eastern Donetsk. My colleagues journeyed there and spoke to locals as gunfire echoed in the distance. “Well, they’re either hunting pheasants, rabbits or Russians,” a retired schoolteacher quipped to them.

Refuting annexation, Ukrainian forces push on from Lyman toward Luhansk

Putin is trying to create his own facts on the ground.

By Tuesday, motions had passed through Russia’s rubber-stamp parliament accepting the “accession treaties” Putin signed last week announcing the absorption of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — all only partially occupied by Russian troops — into the Russian Federation. Russian-backed separatists in these four so-called republics had staged sham referendums to join Russia, outraging Kyiv and the international community.

The annexations only heighten the awkwardness for Kremlin officials, who as of yet could not detail where their borders lay as Ukrainian forces pushed through wilting Russian defenses.

“Ukraine’s victory in Lyman will remain symbolic for the message it sent to the Kremlin: Putin’s annexation of the partly occupied regions was a farce,” my colleagues reported from the front lines. “Lyman was very much part of the lands that Putin claimed in a ceremony in Moscow on Friday, but just one day later, his soldiers left in a hurry — some dying on the way out.”

Putin, of course, seems undeterred. His 37-minute speech Friday waved away criticism of Russia’s violations of international law and reprised his conspiratorial raging at the agendas of the United States and its European allies. He called for “a liberation anti-colonial movement against unipolar hegemony,” casting the annexations as an act of resistance to the “parasitic,” “neocolonial system” of the West, while also detailing the historical legacies of “plunder” and “genocide” carried out by various Western powers in centuries past.

As war fails, Russia’s authoritarian grandmaster backs himself into a corner

On one hand, none of this rhetoric should be surprising. 

Such grousing is standard for Putin, who always seeks to place Russia on equal footing with the United States and its partners. Moreover, dogmatic “anti-imperialism” was stock-in-trade under the Soviet Union, which for decades sought to back and mobilize revolutionaries and leftists across the colonized or decolonizing world. In some instances, such as its support of opposition to the apartheid regime in South Africa, the Kremlin found itself on the right side of history far sooner than its adversaries in the West.

But all of this is ephemeral when set against the war unleashed by Putin, the documented atrocities conducted by his troops in Ukraine, and the overarching colonial project of using brute force to bring Ukrainians to heel while denying their nation-state’s very right to exist. “Putin is apparently oblivious to the absurdity of condemning imperialism while at the same time committing the most brazen act of imperial aggression in modern European history,” noted Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council.

Putin is also silent about his own nation’s ruthless, bloody history of imperial conquest, let alone the horrors of Stalinism. While Western empires were setting up their systems of exploitation and extraction in various parts of the world, Russia’s czars were waging merciless wars of expansion in places not far from the current battles in Ukraine.

“In 1818, when Russian forces attempted to conquer the Northern Caucasus, they encountered a population that refused to be subdued,” wrote Lynne Hartnett, a historian of Russia at Villanova University. “In answer to the guerrilla warfare that the indigenous population unleashed against the invaders, Russia burned villages to the ground, incinerated forests and took civilians as hostages.”

“There’s no attempt to deal with the oppressions of the Russian and Soviet past, the way the Kremlin repeatedly colonizes, ethnically cleanses, deports, starves and mass murders other nations, and the way it kills and arrests and humiliates masses of its own people too in labor camps, gulags, and the killing cellars of the KGB,” wrote Soviet-born British journalist Peter Pomerantsev, nodding to how Putin last year shuttered Memorial, a major Russian civil society organization that investigated the misdeeds of the Soviet past.

Instead, Putin is on his own revanchist journey of restoring Russia’s empire. “He is ‘gathering in the lands’ as did his personal icons — the great Russian tsars — and overturning the legacy of Lenin, the Bolsheviks, and The Post-Cold War settlement,” wrote Fiona Hill and Angela Stent in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. “In this way, Putin wants Russia to be the one exception to the inexorable rise and fall of imperial states.”

For now — as his citizens seek to flee, his nation’s geopolitical isolation deepens and his military teeters — Putin’s mission seems more delusional than ever.

THE NEGATION OF THE NEGATION

 

Kremlin says annexation and retreat 'not a contradiction' amid Ukrainian successes 

Oct 5, 2022

FRANCE 24 English

As President Vladimir Putin completed paperwork for the annexation of four regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin said there was no contradiction between Russian retreats and Putin's vow that they would always be part of Russia. The conclusion of the annexation of up to 18% of Ukrainian territory came as Russian forces battled to halt Ukrainian counter-offensives within it, especially north of Kherson and west of Luhansk. FRANCE 24's Chief Foreign Editor Rob Parsons tells us more.

Putin’s Annexation Plans Ripped up as Ukraine Smashes Russian Defensive Line

BREAKING VLAD

Kyiv’s troops broke through Russian defenses in areas that Moscow claims to command.


Dan Ladden-Hall
News Correspondent
Published Oct. 04, 2022 

YASUYOSHI CHIBA/Getty

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to annex four huge regions of Ukraine continued to falter Tuesday after Kyiv’s forces smashed their way through Russian defenses in the south of the country, claiming their biggest breakthrough in the region since the invasion began.

Ukrainian fighters also seized more land in their continuing offensive in east Ukraine, retaking areas that the Kremlin claims are now part of the Russian Federation.

The Ukrainian military’s southern operational command said 31 Russian tanks and one multiple rocket launcher had been destroyed Monday night, while a Russian-installed leader in the region acknowledged that Ukrainan troops had captured several villages along the strategically important Dnipro River earlier in the day.

The major breakthrough comes after Ukrainian soldiers advanced in two of the four occupied regions which Putin last week annexed following sham referendums. The land grab—which has been condemned as illegal under international law—has been bolstered in Moscow by a shambolic military draft of 300,000 new troops and an alarming round of nuclear threats.

Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin’s puppet leader in occupied areas of Kherson—one of the annexed regions—told Russian state television that Ukrainian forces had recaptured the town of Dudchany along the Dnipro River. “There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces,” Saldo added. The town is around 20 miles south of where the front was situated before the breakthrough, suggesting the fastest advance of Kyiv’s troops in the south.

Before the development, Russian soldiers had been dug into fortified positions along a mostly stationary line since the early days of the war. The advance of Ukrainian troops is hitting vital supply lines for up to 25,000 Russian soldiers positioned on the Dnipro’s west bank, with Russian soldiers already being forced to use makeshift crossings after Kyiv destroyed the river’s main bridges. “It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Reuters claims Saldo said on Russian state television.

“The fact we have broken through the front means that... the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend,” Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv, told Reuters.

The latest breakthrough comes after Moscow was humiliated by the loss of Lyman, the main Russian stronghold in the north of Donetsk. Donetsk—along with Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia—had been officially annexed at a Kremlin ceremony only hours earlier. Russian authorities held a concert in Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate the annexation even as its soldiers were being kicked out of the claimed land.

“The ‘annexation’ of [these] territories exists only in Russian virtual TV reality,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, The Guardianreports. “What will be more painful for the apologists of the ‘Russian world’ will be [their] meeting with reality and the Ukrainian armed forces.”

 

Why Is Anti-Americanism in Russia Less Widespread Now Than in 2014?

October 05, 2022

Denis Volkov

Amid the current Russian-Ukrainian conflict, in which Washington has firmly taken Kyiv’s side, Russian public opinion toward America has deteriorated, as might be expected. But anti-Americanism in Russia has stayed below its peak values ​​of 2014-2015, when the U.S. condemned and sanctioned Moscow for its annexation of Crimea and military support for separatists in Ukraine’s east. Why?

Based on regularly conducted research by the Levada Center, at least three interrelated factors may help explain: First, negative attitudes toward the U.S. have been widespread for at least eight years, fluctuations notwithstanding, so U.S. policies perceived as aimed against Russia may simply seem like more of the same; second, younger audiences who get their news online have greater exposure to independent and/or pro-Western voices than they did just a few years ago; and, third, is the possibility that peak anti-Americanism is still ahead of us.

Though today’s confrontation between Russia and the United States is clearly more acute than eight years ago, the current trend in public opinion has followed a similar trajectory as before, with the share of Russians holding negative views of the U.S. rising from 42% in November 2021 to 75% in May 2022 (and inching down to 71% in August).

Of course, Russian anti-Americanism is a complex phenomenon, and should not be reduced to only one indicator. For instance, even when overall attitudes toward the U.S. were positive, there was significant distrust toward American foreign policy. At the same time, attitudes toward ordinary Americans have always been much more positive than toward the U.S. as a country. Even now about half of Russians have a positive view of the American people, differentiating between the U.S. establishment and ordinary Americans. And yet “attitudes toward the U.S. as a country” is what we ask about several times a year, so this is the indicator for which we have the most data.

Caveats notwithstanding, I believe that polling in Russia is still informative. For one thing, it gives a basis for comparison: Thus far, the response rate for our surveys hasn’t changed much since February. Also, our additional research does not back up assertions that people who do not approve of the country’s leadership are more likely to refuse to take part in a poll or that polls only represent people who are prepared to engage and answer questions.

Anti-Americanism as the New Normal

Our polls show that in recent years anti-Americanism in Russia has become the new normal. Up until 2014, positive feelings toward America generally prevailed. There were only relatively short bursts of anti-Americanism: during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the Russian-Georgian war in 2008, when the U.S. also sided with Moscow’s adversary. However, since 2014, hostility toward America has become a mainstream mood and only in the last couple of years has the share of respondents with a positive attitude reached 40%-45%. In other words, anti-Americanism has become routine. Perhaps that is one reason the current standoff with the West now stirs less emotion than it might otherwise.

As in 2008 and 2014, the current conflict is primarily perceived by ordinary Russians as one imposed on Russia by the West. (Russian attitudes toward the EU track very closely with those toward the U.S., while positive views of China—which has largely sided with Russia throughout the Russo-Ukrainian conflict—recently hit a record high of 88%.) As a result, Russian public opinion has once again rallied around the authorities, as it did in 2008 and especially in 2014: Support for state institutions and government decisions has grown stronger.

These supportive attitudes, however, had long been low-stakes—based largely on the inaction and passivity of broad sectors of society. The average Russian leaves important political decisions at the mercy of the authorities, so long as they do not require direct participation from the individual. This partly explains why Russian authorities remained reluctant to start military mobilization for so long, wary of imposing higher costs on ordinary people.

Perhaps this is another reason that anti-Americanism has not gone off the charts: America is unloved, censured, suspected of malicious intent, but few Russians are interested in further escalation. Our surveys show that even amid the initial stage of the conflict with Ukraine eight years ago more than 60% of Russians favored better relations with the U.S. and other Western countries. Yet since many see the U.S. as the villain and blame it for the escalation in tensions, the majority believed it was the U.S., not Russia, that should have taken steps for de-escalation. In focus groups people usually say about the U.S.: “We would like a better relationship with them, but they don’t want it.” Regarding the current standoff, the mood of the majority can be described as “May this be over as soon as possible.”

Different Ages, Different News Sources

Anti-Americanism has long been more prevalent among older Russians, whose mistrust toward the U.S. is inherited from Soviet times. These negative feelings are stoked by state television, which often traffics in anti-Americanism and, for older Russians, remains the main source of information. Furthermore, older generations depend more on the state for their well-being than do younger people, and so tend to support the government’s decisions more eagerly than any other age group.

Younger Russians, on the contrary, are much friendlier toward America and the West in general. They are less influenced by old Soviet clichés, and many of them are great consumers of Western mass culture. In addition, young Russians tend not to get their news from TV, preferring online sources, which are much freer and more varied.

After the decline of positive attitudes toward the U.S. eight years ago, it was among young Russians that they first began to bounce back. And in recent years, up to the beginning of the current conflict, a positive attitude toward America prevailed among younger, more “modern” Russians. Even today, people under 25 see the U.S. in a more positive light than older Russians, more so even than eight years ago: In July 2014, 22% of younger Russians held positive views of the U.S.; in August 2022 the number was 35%.

This likely stems from young Russians’ widespread use of the internet, where independent media and liberal video bloggers—traditionally more pro-Western than state-run television—have mushroomed in recent years. These trends have coincided with the explosive growth of YouTube’s Russian-speaking audience: Between 2018 and 2022 the platform’s audience tripled and now amounts to one-third of the population, consisting primarily of people under 40. Telegram, created in 2013, has also become an important platform for the free exchange of opinions, now attracting up to 15% of the Russian population, primarily politically engaged and information-hungry people.

Independent journalists, activists and politicians have been able to take advantage of this shift. It is no coincidence that many popular Russian “vlogs” sprang up only two or three years ago. For the first time in many years, state television in Russia has independent competitors whose audiences are primarily young. The expansion of this new segment of the Russian internet may contribute to better attitudes toward the U.S. among its audiences, despite the ongoing conflict.

Not the Worst of It?

So there are several possible factors helping to keep anti-Americanism lower than one might expect: Routine—in this case, the habit of blaming the U.S. for Russia’s troubles—kills passion; fears of war temper criticism; and some subgroups in Russian society hold more positive views of the U.S. than the country as a whole, in particular younger Russians and people who get their news online (although negative attitudes prevail here as well). Ordinary Russians also tend to differentiate between the U.S. government and ordinary Americans, holding much more positive views of the latter.

However, it is important to remember that during the previous escalation anti-American sentiment in Russia did not reach its peak immediately, but almost a year after the conflict began—in late January 2015. (Comparing the trends then and now is convenient, since the Russian-Ukrainian conflicts of both 2014 and 2022 began in late February.) Only after the second Minsk agreement was signed in February 2015 and the relative normalization of the situation in the Donbas did public hostility toward America begin to slowly decrease as tensions deescalated. So, it is quite possible that we have yet to see new peaks of anti-Americanism, especially as the conflict seems to expand further.

AUTHOR

Denis Volkov

Denis Volkov is the director of the Levada Center. 

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author. Photo by Dmitry Dzhus shared under a Creative Commons license.

Russia-Ukraine war: Nuclear workers recount abuse, threats

POWER ENGINEERS LIKE ME

AP
By Hanna Arhirova
5 Oct, 2022 

Alone in his apartment in the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine, nuclear plant security guard Serhiy Shvets looked out his kitchen window in late May and saw gunmen approaching on the street below. When his buzzer rang, he was sure he was about to die.

Shvets, a former soldier in Ukraine's military who was loyal to Kyiv, knew the gunmen would either kill or abduct and torture him. He thought briefly about recording a farewell to his family, who had fled to safety abroad, but instead lit a cigarette and grabbed his gun.

Six Russian soldiers broke down his door and opened fire, which he returned. Wounded in the hand, thigh, ear and stomach, Shvets began to lose consciousness. Before he did, he heard the commander of the group tell his men to cease fire and call an ambulance.

Shvets, who survived the shooting, is among workers from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant recounting their fears of being abducted and tortured or killed by Russian forces occupying the facility and the city of Enerhodar. Ukrainian officials say the Russians have sought to intimidate the staff into keeping the plant running, through beatings and other abuse, but also to punish those who express support for Kyiv.

Serhiy Shvets, an employee at Europe's largest Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Photo / AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia was taking ownership of the plant. With his decree, he ordered the creation of a state company to manage the facility and said all workers now need Russian permission to work there.

Ukraine condemned the "illegal" Russian takeover attempt and called on the West to impose sanctions on the Russian state nuclear operator, Rosatom, and for all countries to limit civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia.

Ukraine's state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said it considers Putin's decree "worthless" and "absurd." It said the plant would continue to be operated by Energoatom as part of the Ukrainian energy system.

Life was good for employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) before the Russian invasion on February 24. They were guaranteed a financially secure and stable life for their families.

And even though Ukraine still bears the psychological scars of the world's worst atomic accident at Chornobyl in 1986, the Zaporizhzhia plant - Europe's largest nuclear facility with its six reactors - provided jobs for about 11,000 people, making Enerhodar with its pre-war population of 53,000 one of the wealthiest cities in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / AP

But after Russia occupied the city early in the war, that once-comfortable life turned into a nightmare.

The invaders overran the ZNPP, about six kilometres from Enerhodar, but kept the Ukrainian staff in place to run it. Both sides accused the other of shelling the plant, damaging power lines connecting it to the grid and raising an international alarm for its safety. Ukrainian officials say the Russians used the plant as a shield as they shelled nearby towns.

Reports of intimidation of the staff and abductions began trickling out over the summer. Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nation's atomic watchdog, told The Associated Press about reports of violence between the Russians and the Ukrainian staff.

Grossi travelled to Kyiv on Wednesday and will be in Russia later to hold consultations on Moscow's intention to take over the plant and to continue his push for a safety zone to be established around it, the IAEA said in a statement.

About 4,000 ZNPP workers have fled. Those who stayed cited threats of kidnap and torture, underscored by the abduction of plant director Ihor Murashov, who was seized and blindfolded by Russian forces on his way home from work.

He was freed after being forced to make false statements on camera, according to Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom. He told AP Murashov was released at the edge of Russian-controlled territory and walked about 15km to a Ukrainian-held area.

A Russian serviceman guards in an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station. Photo / AP

"I would say it was mental torture," Kotin said of what Murashov suffered. "He had to say that all the shelling on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was made by Ukrainian forces and that he is a Ukrainian spy... in contact with Ukrainian special forces."

- AP

Russia says it will supervise Zaporizhzhia

nuclear plant after annexation

This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces, in Ukraine on Aug. 28, 2022. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant , built during the Soviet era and one of the 10 biggest in the world, has been engulfed by fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops in recent weeks, fueling concerns of a nuclear catastrophe.  Planet Labs PBC via AP

Russia plans to supervise operations of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after formally annexing the wider Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine this week, the state-owned RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing a foreign ministry official.

Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in early March shortly after invading Ukraine, but Ukrainian staff had continued to operate it. Both Moscow and Kyiv have since accused each other of shelling the facility, risking a nuclear disaster.

“The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is now on the territory of the Russian Federation and, accordingly, should be operated under the supervision of our relevant agencies,” RIA quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying.

It was not clear how Russia planned to operate the plant and if it would try and introduce its own staff to the complex.

Another state-owned Russian news agency, TASS, reported that Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, will visit Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation at the plant.

Russia acted to annex Zaporizhzhia and three other regions after holding what it called referendums — votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive. Moscow does not fully control any of the regions.

Blackberries and vampire flies threatening precious Galapagos ecosystems

The two species were introduced to the set of islands decades ago, but have slowly caused other key animals and plants to start dying out.

Wednesday 5 October 2022 

:Blackberries have been destroying other plant species. 

Invasive blackberry bushes and blood-sucking vampire flies are threatening the precious ecosystems of the Galapagos Islands - with some animals already in danger of extinction.

The two species were introduced to the archipelago in Ecuador by accident decades ago, but have slowly caused havoc as no measures are available to immediately control their spread.

The small fly is now one of the most challenging conservation problems facing the delicate ecosystem.

Feeding on blood to reproduce, the fly threatens more than 20 species of finches, which are one of the islands' emblematic birds, and has caused their population to decline.

It leaves its larvae in the nests of the birds, some of which are in danger of going extinct, then infests the chicks to the point of killing them.

Six years ago, scientists analysed the effectiveness of a wasp that could control the fly, but they wanted to ensure they did not affect other insects endemic to the islands before introducing them.

"Galapagos is at risk," the executive director for the Charles Darwin Foundation, Rakan Zahawi warned.

"I say it not only to create some visibility in that sense, but because we really have strong challenges in Galapagos."

Vampire fly has put some animals at risk. 

The killer blackberry

He has also warned of the invasive blackberry species, which aggressively destroys crops and other plants.

As a result, vast areas have been turned into blackberry forests, with birds dispersing of the plant's seeds across different zones after eating the fruit.

For 13 years, scientists have been testing a Chinese fungus that is designed to only attack the plant, but the research has not yielded any firm results.

The Galapagos Islands' ecosystem is under threat. Pic: iStock


More than 20 scientific institutions from across the world have been involved in finding solutions to the "quite big challenges", Mr Zahawi explained.

The Galapagos Islands are very biodiverse, and home to a wide range of species, such as its iconic giant tortoises and iguanas.

This is because it has many different habitat zones, including coral reefs, highland forests, sand dunes and scrubland.

In 1979, the group of islands was declared a natural heritage of humanity site for its animal, plant, terrestrial and marine species.

In Morocco hills, cannabis farmers bet on budding industry

Agence France-Presse
October 05, 2022

A farmer inspects plants in a cannabis field in Morocco's Ketama

 area at the foot of the mountainous region of Rif 

FADEL SENNA AFP

In the hills of northern Morocco, vast cannabis fields are ready for harvest, but farmers complain that a government plan to market the crop legally is yet to deliver them any benefits.

The marginalized Rif region has long been a major source of illicit hashish smuggled to Europe while Moroccan authorities, wary of social unrest, have often turned a blind eye.

Growers now hope that a change in the law last year will help them profit legally from medicinal cannabis, increasingly used to treat conditions including multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

Morocco -- the world's top producer of hashish according to the United Nations -- lies on Europe's doorstep and is potentially well placed to become a top legitimate exporter.

But a domestic crackdown on growers, slow progress in issuing licenses for legal production and strong competition from European operators has left Rif farmers out in the cold.

"We're still attached to this plant, but it has stopped giving us anything," said Souad, a cannabis farmer in the village of Azila.

Like others AFP interviewed, she did not want her real name to be published.

"Nobody wants it anymore," Souad shrugged. "Our lives are hard now."

Under a law the government approved in March last year, farmers will be able to form cooperatives to grow limited amounts of cannabis for processing and sale by licensed firms.

Souad, who still helps her sons on the family plot despite being in her 60s, holds tentative hope that this will help her community make a better living.

"If it's serious, it's a good thing," she said.

'We're just farmers'

Demand for the Moroccan product has dropped as legal, highly regulated, production in Europe has fed the market.

Moroccan farmers' income from cannabis fell from 500 million euros (now around $497 million) a year in the early 2000s to less than 325 million euros in 2020, according to an interior ministry study last year.

"The market has fallen drastically," said Karim, another grower.

Adding to the pressure, he was only able to farm part of his family's land in Azila this year because of water shortages driven by the worst drought in decades.

Moroccan authorities have also stepped up raids against farmers in the Rif as they seek to dismantle smuggling networks in favor of the legal trade.

"Farmers are the weak link in the supply chain -- we're the ones who pay the price" for involvement in the illicit market, Karim complained.

"The only option we have left is prison," said the 44-year-old.

Nourredine, another cannabis grower, said he too holds out hope that legalization of the drug could help farmers in the Rif.

However, he added, "so far nothing has changed. We're always seen as thugs and criminals, but we're just farmers."

Complex bureaucracy

A six-hour drive away in the capital Rabat, a government official insisted that better times were around the corner for cannabis growers.

"There may be concerns, but legalization will dispel them because it will benefit the growers," he said, asking not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media on the subject.

The state estimates that growers could receive some 12 percent of revenues from regulated cannabis production, compared to just four percent on the black market, according to state news agency MAP.

But authorities have stressed that the process must not be rushed.

An initial round of licenses is to be issued to Moroccan and international firms to process cannabis for therapeutic purposes, the official said without specifying a date.

ANRAC, an agency the government has created to regulate the industry, began operating in June and is currently studying license applications by hopeful firms.

Then it will be the turn of farmers in the Rifian provinces of Al-Hoceima, Chefchaouen and Taounate to form cooperatives and register with ANRAC.

But under the 2021 law, licenses to produce cannabis are granted "only within the limits of the quantities needed to meet the needs for the manufacture of products for medical, pharmaceutical and therapeutic purposes".

Cannabis farms covered 55,000 hectares (around 136,000 acres) in the northeast of the kingdom in 2019, providing livelihoods for up to 120,000 families, according to a study prior to the law being passed.

Civil society groups in the area are now mobilizing to inform farmers about the technical aspects of the new system.

Some details are "complicated", said Soufiane Zahlaf, who represents Azila residents in dealings with authorities on the matter.

"But if the approach of the authorities is inclusive," he said, "then great things can be achieved."

© 2022 AFP

CRITICAL SUPPORT FOR POLISARIO

Diplomatic brawl brews between Morocco and Iran over Polisario and normalisation

Morocco's FM has also alleged that Tehran had provided "drones" to the separatist Polisario Front movement, which has been fighting against Morocco in the disputed territory of Western Sahara since 1973.


"Iran is currently the official sponsor of separatism and terrorism in our Arab region," said the Moroccan FM. [Getty]

Morocco's foreign minister has once again accused Iran of sponsoring 'terrorism' in the Arab world, namely in Yemen and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

During a joint press conference on Monday with his Yemeni counterpart, Nasser Bourita, Morocco's foreign affairs minister, blamed the situation in Yemen on Iran’s arms sponsorship to the Houthis militia.

"Iran can no longer (…) continue to undermine security and stability in the Arab region. We see this in Yemen, we also see it in North Africa and Morocco also suffers from this interference," said Bourita.

Morocco says Iran threatening 'Africa's spiritual security'

Bourita also alleged that Tehran had provided "drones" to the separatist Polisario Front movement, which has been fighting against Morocco in the disputed territory of Western Sahara since 1973.

"Iran is currently the official sponsor of separatism and terrorism in our Arab region," added the Moroccan minister.

Tehran's officials quickly rejected Rabat's accusations, calling on the North African Kingdom to "stop playing blame games."

"Morocco had better be concerned about and accountable for the insecurity that threatens the countries and nations of the region because of the normalisation of relations with the apartheid Zionist regime," Nasser Kanaani, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, said during a press conference.

The Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson also advised Morocco's foreign minister to "instead of seeking help from the Zionist regime to impose its demands on the region, pave the ground for self-determination by the people of Western Sahara."

The Iranian-Moroccan feud goes back to 2018 when Rabat halted diplomatic ties with Tehran over allegedly backing the Lebanese Hezbollah group to train Polisario Front separatist fighters in Western Sahara.

Both Tehran and Hezbollah denied the accusation.

In January, Morocco's FM renewed the feud after vowing to protect "the spiritual security of Africa" from the Iranian plan to infiltrate the continent and spread its Shii influence.

Tehran has rejected the accusations.

Several Arab Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE, have either severed or downgraded diplomatic relations with Iran, accusing Tehran of interference in the domestic affairs of the West Asian and North African region.