With a new king in Morocco, and a recently elected president in Algeria, relations between the two North African neighbours - frosty at the best of times, over the western Saharan issue - have suddenly thawed.
It should come as no surprise that the west’s favourite clients in the Muslim world have adopted some of the double standards so prevalent in the ‘free’ and ‘democratic’ west.
Anyone harbouring illusions about the new set-up in Morocco following cosmetic changes to the constitution were quickly brought back to reality.