Race for pirates: let's stop the childishness of the playground
(B2)The recent joint statement by Dutch and US foreign ministers is infuriating. It fully illustrates the big flaw in the international anti-piracy operations that are currently taking place in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, particularly at the level of Europeans (and more generally of Westerners).
The big flaw of Europeans and Americans: their division. The Europeans participate, in fact, to varying degrees in at least three similar, even competing operations (Eunavfor, NATO, CTF 151, not to mention CTF 150 and the national presences - French and American in Djibouti in particular). All these operations have the same objective, bring together roughly the same stakeholders (in turn) but take place, one next to the other, without any real coordination (other than operational in the field). Each organization and each political leader seeks to pull the political cover of the operation towards itself, without taking into account what the neighbor is doing (or pretending to ignore it).
Schizophrenia awaits the Dutch minister. One can thus wonder to what extent the Dutch minister, Verhagen (like some European ministers), does not turn a little schizophrenic! Within the framework of the European Union, the Netherlands will send a frigate (in August) which will be covered by the legal agreements signed by the EU (in particular with Kenya and Djibouti), of which Verhagen is well aware existence, all the ins and outs, since he took part in it (all these texts were discussed many times in Brussels within the framework of several committees, in particular between the ambassadors of the PSC, the political and security committee , including the Dutch ambassador). And, within the framework of NATO, to "please" its American allies, Verhagen recommends asking NATO to take up a new identical approach... The simplest (and the most economical for public funds) would it not be to have a single operation, coordinated by a single operator, at least among Europeans.