Western Sahara

Algeria can no longer pretend that it has no vital interest in or responsibility for the outcome of the Western Sahara situation. Abductions of foreign nationals from their sovereign territory make Algeria a partner in the discussion, whether Algeria wishes it or not.

On Friday the General Assembly elected Morocco, Togo, Pakistan and Guatemala to serve two-year terms in the Security Council, starting in January 2012. But the Eastern European seat failed to get the two-thirds vote needed.

Across North Africa and the Middle East, people are crying out for a free choice over their future. But there is one place where this desperate cry is being silenced.

It would be a mistake to assume the interpretations of events by State Department personnel are accurate reflections of reality. They see the world from inside the prism of a hegemonic power.

Morocco has been able to persist in flouting its international legal obligations toward Western Sahara largely because France and the United States have continued to arm Moroccan occupation forces and blocked enforcement of resolutions.

There are still sixteen territories around the world that have yet to achieve decolonization. Most notable is Western Sahara, known as Africa's last colony, which has fought for self-determination for more than 35 years against Morocco.

Moroccan authorities continue to subject Sahrawi people who openly advocate self-determination or denounce Moroccan human rights violations to various forms of repression.

Senate calls for the U.S. to endorse Morocco's illegal annexation of Western Sahara, despite objections from the African Union, European allies and international legal scholars.

Now these people live in poverty and in refugee camps, but keep the dream of their own independent state alive. Most Americans do not know anything about them.

Most Americans are currently unaware of an ailing human rights campaigner from Western Sahara now in the third week of a risky hunger strike after being expelled from her occupied homeland by Moroccan authorities.

Clinton's trip to North Korea sends a clear message: hostage-taking gets results. Tehran, Hizbollah, Pyongyang and other violent groups across the world will be taking notes.

For all its well-intentioned rhetoric, President Obama's speech was, sadly, conceptually flawed, empirically challenged, and politically blind to the daily realities that drive hundreds of millions of Muslims to increasing despair.