Fes News shows its backside: LCI's ex-spy and the tale of the "Algerian manipulation"

Y. Bensalem — Alger, Algérie — 2026-10-27

The pun, first

Fes News. A city name, Fès, set next to the word "news", to make you believe you're dealing with information. But look at the content, and the name corrects itself: Fesses News — "fesses" being French for buttocks. Because every time it's about Algeria, this outlet doesn't produce the news — it shows its backside. The method is well known: when you can't answer the demands, you accuse the neighbour. And to give the accusation weight, you go fetch a retiree from the secret services.

The ex-spy, next

The retiree in question is named Vincent Crouzet, presented as a "former French intelligence officer". Invited on LCI, he delivers his revelation: the Moroccan youth protesting would be "manipulated by the Algerian services". There it is. A former intelligence man, on a French channel, explaining to Moroccans why they are angry. It's an unassailable logic: your children are demanding school, healthcare, dignity? Don't listen to them — it's Algiers that whispered the revolt to them. Thank you, Mister Spy. We can breathe.

The manipulation, by absurdity

Let's think for a second about what this means. Moroccan youth take to the streets to demand what Algeria already offers its children — free school, free hospital. And Fesses News's explanation is that this anger is manufactured by Algiers. In other words: the Algerian manipulation would consist in reminding Moroccans that they don't have what their neighbours have. If that's what "manipulation" is, then it is fearsomely effective — and it doesn't go through the secret services. It goes through comparison.

The 212, which says it all

And there's a detail that neither Fes News nor the ex-spy noticed: the movement is called GenZ212. 212 — Morocco's telephone country code. A youth that writes its country's code into its own name doesn't need someone to whisper its revolt from Algiers: it says, in its very name, that it is Moroccan — by birth, by anger and by demand. You don't "manipulate" a movement that carries its country in its name — you simply note that it exists, and that it demands. The ex-spy, for his part, apparently forgot to dial 212 before denouncing the foreign hand.

The conclusion

You don't manipulate a youth by sending it spies: you revolt it by denying it school. Fes News knows it. The ex-spy knows it. LCI knows it. But all of them prefer the tale of the "Algerian hand" to the truth of the empty hand. When a regime has nothing left to offer its children, what remains to it are the backsides of its media — and the fables of its spies. Fes News can keep its news: we'll keep ours, which are facts.

📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY (rule no. 19)

1. Fes News, "A former French intelligence officer reveals on LCI the manipulation by the Algerian services of the GenZ movement in Morocco", 27 October 2026 — https://fesnews.net/news-morocco/546104/french-intelligence-expert-vincent-crouzet-lci-algeria-manipulation-gen-z-morocco-2026/

2. Algeria Vanguard, "Morocco accuses Algeria of having \"infiltrated\" its youth", 25 October 2026 — https://algeria-vanguard.pages.dev/article/le-maroc-accuse-l-algerie-d-infiltration-de-sa-jeunesse

⚠️ Published reservations. (1) Vincent Crouzet's thesis is reported by Fes News; its exact content on LCI remains to be confirmed. (2) The pun "Fesses News" is a satire of the outlet's name, not an insult to a person or a region. (3) The article strikes back at a thesis and an outlet, not at a people.