In the days of bows and arrows a much better longbow could be made from timber that came from bow trees grown in Portugal -presumably for climatic reasons.- than in England. Fast forward to today there are just as many human rights abuses in Morocco as there were in the former Yugoslavia but because the European Community gets 25% of its natural gas and 10% of its crude oil from Morocco and there is continuity of supply all politicians in Europe keep their mouths shut about what in going on in Morocco. Nothing really changes does it?
Interesting theory - but all the bowyers I know insist that you want a slow-grown stave rather than a fast-grown stave, and that therefore you want to cut your bow stave from a yew tree grown in a cold climate rather than a hot climate. I seem to remember some mediaeval laws about merchants trading into the Baltic having to bring back so many barrels of yew staves. Portugal is our oldest ally because we signed a friendship pact with them in the 13th century and neither side has broken it since ... simple as that. Plus ... they do make very nice fortified wines
Maybe I'm being dumb, but I can't see the link between point 1 and point 2 here. Unless there were historical human rights abuses in Portugal which were worse than those in England. I can't find any confirmation of the figures on EU energy imports from Maroc. Do you have a link?
The priority of supply of a commodity is a no 1 priority. I heard of the EU getting oil and natural gas from on a radio program called Late Night Live that is in Radio National. This is the thinking person's radio station in Australia - the equivalent of Radio 4. You could contact of the oil companies to conform what I have written. I once did ask Esso something and they I was nearly right except on one thing.
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/4275 According to this, Morocco has no significant oil or gas production. Phosphates are about the only big export.
Maybe I misheard. I know there are pipelines that go through Morocco. I don't know what the human rights situation is in Algeria though. Apparently although Tunisia makes no claims to being a democracy it is a libertarian place as long as you do not try to gey involved with any politics.
None of the countries you mention has a good record on human rights. But when it comes to oil producing countries, one of the very worst is Saudi Arabia. But because we all want their oil, they never get much flack over their abysmal record on human rights, or the corrupt deals we do with them in order to sell them arms. Slush funds are created, bribes are paid, to ensure they spend massive amounts on arms produced in Europe and America. Meanwhile the religious police regularly hand out beatings, and people are detained without trial, access to lawyers, medical care or family, often for many years for any criticism of the regime. "Cruel and unusual punishments", such as stoning to death, amputations etc, are the order of the day. Women are wholly subjugated, and not even allowed to drive. It was Britain who really set the Sauds up as rulers of Arabia after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in WWI. And now we suck up to them for oil. Even now, the Saudis are putting pressure on America and Europe to intervene in Syria, and thus fight their Jihad for them.
