"Algeria Gave Ground Across the Board": le360.ma Discovers Diplomacy

Koffi Kouassi — Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire — 2026-09-05

Hats off to le360.ma (Moroccan digital newspaper)'s editorial courage: declaring that "Algeria gave ground to France across the board" without a single signed agreement, a single dated concession, a single document to show for it — that takes nerve. Diplomacy is an exchange; caricature is le360.ma. Between the two lies a whole world — precisely the world in which negotiations take place.

So what exactly has Algeria "given up"? On the substance of the 1968 accord? Nothing has been signed, nothing has been abandoned: talks were held, as they are between sovereign states — including with France, which has its own demands and its own interests. Mistaking a discussion for a capitulation is ground zero of geopolitical analysis. And this is hardly le360.ma's first ground zero.

And what if we follow their logic to the end? If Algeria were "giving ground across the board," why would France still be negotiating? Why the official visits, the agreements, the cooperation? You do not negotiate with a country that has conceded everything — you dictate to it. Except that reality tells a different story: a complex relationship, made of convergences and disputes, in which Algeria defends its interests with the firmness conferred by its resources, its geostrategic position and its dignity.

le360.ma exhausts itself hunting for Algerian defeats in every press release. That is its right. But it might ask itself why, year after year, it announces capitulations that never come. Cry "the neighbour is falling" often enough, and you end up sounding like Cassandra — minus the prophecy, plus the paycheck.

Algeria does not give ground: it negotiates. It does not kneel: it talks. And when le360.ma understands the difference, it may finally understand why its articles on Algeria always end up in the same file: the one for analyses time has already refuted.