Morocco’s Religious Diplomacy: To What End?

Last update: 2022-04-22 09:54:54

Month of Ramadan offers Morocco opportunity to strategize religious diplomacy in order to solidify ties with Western alliances. From Imam training programs to mosque construction in Western Africa, reports Sarah Alaoui of the Center on Public Diplomacy, Morocco presents a useful case study on the usefulness of religious diplomacy in the Arab world.

 

President Donald Trump holds Iftar dinner on Wednesday, opening White House doors to a handful of Saudi diplomats, and reinforcing the idea that the “Muslim world” is entirely foreign and alien to America, writes Zaki Barzinji of Politico Magazine. 

 

Pakistani government, just over a month before primary elections, has mounted powerful crackdowns on its opposition in the media, social networks and mainstream political movements, reports Douglas Schorzman of The New York Times.

 

The U.N. peace plan calls for Houthi ceasefire, according to sources at Reuters. The U.N. drafted plan, which involves the Iranian-aligned Houthis to give up ballistic missiles in return for the other Yemeni forces backed by U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to end bombing campaigns, is an effort to end Yemen’s three-year-long civil war.

 

A new Populist government comes to power in Italy this week. Matteo Salvini, the new interior minister of the country says, “We need to keep desperate people in their countries through an economic collaboration that blocks their departure,” according to The Atlantic. Where does Italy’s Prime Minister fall on this stance and how is the public reacting?

 

America’s Georgetown University hosts an event titled, “"Overcoming Polarization in a Divided Nation through Catholic Social Thought: Bringing the Joy of the Gospel to a Divided Nation." University professors gather with members of the Catholic hierarchy work to arrive at a cure for the U.S. society’s woes of “tribalization and incivility," writes Julie Bourbon for National Catholic Reporter.

 

Twenty-five Syrian refugee families have been so far settled by community sponsorship in the U.K. A town in Wales welcomes refugees with time to recover, housing, education, and other programs aimed at smooth integration into society, writes Daniella Cheslow of National Public Radio.