“New Algeria” at the Heart of U.S.-Russian Rivalry

With its new indicators, Algeria has become at the heart of the “political conflict” between the US administration and the Kremlin, as Washington and Moscow have striven to emphasize the strength of their relationship with Algeria, and that it is a “strategic”, “reliable” partner and an influential country in establishing peace and stability in the region, as well as France which has also moved to rearrange its relationship with Algeria at a time when its ties with its “former protégé,” the Kingdom of Morocco, is fading.

U.S. President Joe Biden intensified its moves towards Algeria, which was evident in the successive statements of senior officials in the State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs regarding Algeria, and in its last chapters, but not the last, the conclusions of the meeting that brought together the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amar Belani, with the American ambassador, Elizabeth Moore Aubin, on Thursday evening, when the American diplomat commended the unremitting efforts made by the Algerian authorities to improve the business climate and increase foreign investment flows in Algeria, noting that the great positives brought by the new investment law, especially in terms of legislative guarantees and fiscal facilities granted to foreign investors, attract businessmen and companies in the United States of America.

The Algerian-American talks dealt with the upcoming meetings in the security cooperation between the two countries. In this regard, the two sides valued the existing fruitful cooperation between Algeria and the United States of America in the field of counter-terrorism and renewed their keenness to consolidate and expand it, especially in the context of the stakes surrounding the fragile security situation in the Sahel region.

In the scientific and cultural field, the two parties agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of English language education and the US ambassador expressed her country’s readiness to accompany the Algerian authorities in their efforts to enhance the status of the English language, especially among university students and researchers.

Further, the two sides exchanged views on many international and regional issues of common concern, especially the developments of the Western Sahara issue, and Amar Belani renewed Algeria’s firm position in support of the legitimate struggle of the Sahrawi people for their right to self-determination.

During the extensive discussion on this issue, the two sides indicated the importance of supporting the efforts of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Mr Staffan de Mistura, aimed at encouraging the parties to the conflict to revive the course of negotiations to reach a permanent political solution acceptable to both parties based on the rules of international law.

The position was expressed by Washington only hours after a call that brought together Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra with the US Deputy Secretary of State, Wendy Sherman, on her initiative, which allowed an exchange of views on many issues of common concern at the regional and international levels, including in particular, the situation in Mali and the Sahel and Sahara region, international cooperation in the field of combating terrorism, the issues of Western Sahara and Palestine, in addition to the current crisis in international relations due to the war in Ukraine.

On this occasion, the two officials appreciated the promising prospects for Algerian-American relations and agreed to deepen the strategic dialogue at all levels between the two countries on the occasion of the upcoming bilateral events.

The American race towards Algeria cannot be isolated from what was issued by Russian Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov, regarding the American threats to punish Algeria, for its refusal to support sanctions against Russia, and explained in statements to a Russian channel, “I heard that a group of senators, about 27 of them, sent a special letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing their concern about Algeria’s refusal to join the sanctions against Russia, and suggested in the letter in this regard that Algeria should be punished under the CAATSA Act, which means Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions”.

He added, in response to whether Western pressures would affect Algeria’s policy towards Russia: “We have a popular saying that said; you attacked the wrong person… The Algerians are not people who can be told what to do in this way, and it cannot be expected for the Algerians to comply and implement, with a hand signal from behind the ocean, these directives directly contradict their national interests. Algeria, like most countries, is a country that respects itself, its history and its interests, based on which it draws its policies”.

America and Russia are not the only countries that expanded their movements to Algeria. This attracted even the eye of the prestigious magazine “The Economist” which published an article titled “France dumps Morocco in favour of Algeria”, asserting that the reason is Europe’s need for natural gas”, and quoting a French diplomat as saying, “it is an exceptional dynamic.”