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Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune delivered another instalment of his carefully staged chats with journalists from state media on Saturday evening, October 3. Over two hours, he said absolutely nothing of consequence, serving up the same old repetitions and falsehoods. It was on the Sahara issue, however, that he was most revealing, declaring that the Algerian regime would not be “more Sahrawi than the Sahrawis.”

In recent years, with a bewildering acceleration over the past few months, a considerable shift has taken place in the Algerian regime’s approach. Western Sahara is no longer presented merely as an issue of decolonization, or of solidarity with the Polisario and the SADR. It is now officially a matter of national security, accorded the highest priority. Words have meaning. When a state turns one external issue among many into a priority matter of national security, it changes the very nature of the problem. What is happening?

During another marathon appearance before two journalists from Algeria’s state media on Monday, July 27, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune once again indulged in a rambling exercise in self-promotion. The more than two-hour broadcast, aired on delay by state television and radio, chiefly served to confirm that Tunisia—where President Kaïs Saied is facing mounting popular unrest—has effectively become little more than an Algerian wilaya in Tebboune’s eyes. He also downplayed his regime’s glaring failures in confronting the country’s devastating wildfires by once again promising to purchase water-bombing aircraft. The performance was punctuated throughout by the register in which Tebboune excels: vulgarity.