Is the capture of the Oleg Naydenov trawler part of an environmental terror campaign against Russia?
The detention by Senegal of the fishing trawler "Oleg Naidenov" together with the crew of the vessel was the first serious test for the Russian foreign ministry in the coming year. And although the capture of the trawler is the work of the Senegalese military and “activists” from Greenpeace, the initiator of this action is foreign sponsors interested in publicly humiliating Russia. Let's try to figure out who specifically it is beneficial, and why "Oleg Naidenov" was detained.
Political ecology
Senegal has made the capture of the Russian trawler is not on its own initiative December 26, 10 for days before the detention of a ship, Greenpeace has urged the country's authorities arrested four Russian trawlers engaged in fishing in Senegal's exclusive economic zone. Shortly before this, the Senegalese government launched an initiative to increase control over fishing in its waters.
Nobody initially paid attention to this seemingly ordinary statement; in any case, it did not pose a serious threat to Russian interests in West Africa. It seemed we had nothing to fear: our vessels, including the “Oleg Naidenov”, were fishing with the necessary licenses. In addition, according to the laws of Senegal, the Senegalese observer must be present at each trawler, which is obliged to ensure that the ship did not go into the forbidden zone, and if the unexpected happened, the blame should lie exactly on the man.
However, the “peaceful” declaration of intentions unexpectedly turned into serious problems for us. 4 of January, a few days after the new year, the Senegalese military with demonstrative brutality and disregard seized trawler "Oleg Naydenov," and the crew actually captured by dragging the ship in the port of Dakar. It is characteristic that the attack was carried out in the territorial waters of Guinea-Bissau, which had nothing to do with the incident, and three crew members were beaten.
Shortly before that, just on the day when Greenpeace called on Senegal to fight “piracy,” the country's fisheries minister, Haidar Ali, unexpectedly delivered a response, and plainly informed the Greenpeace that, using French aviation Senegal is monitoring the Russian vessels in its territorial waters and is ready to detain them in the near future. According to the minister, in addition to Oleg Naydenov, on the tip of the French, it was planned to arrest three more Russian trawlers. It turns out that the provocation against Russia was prepared in advance by the government departments of two countries - France and Senegal? And in the operation against the Russian ship were even involved the French Air Force, conducting surveillance and coordinating the attack?
Greenpeace in this case made only a formal veil, a kind of fig leaf, barely covering all noticeable confused places. Western political consultants have learned how to skillfully use international organizations in the interests of their customers — the governments of NATO countries, as well as large transnational corporations. Environmental policy is gradually being transformed into a political ecology: where there is no suitable pretext for provocation, the sensation can be sucked from the finger, accusing the rival of violating environmental regulations. So it was with “Oleg Naidenov”: the owners and crew of the trawler were simply declared “poachers”, without citing any evidence.
Who benefits?
Someone Monsebula Raul, head of the Greenpeace project on protection of the oceans, hysterically accuses Russia of "robbery" of the local Senegalese fishermen say, after along the Senegalese coast will host Russian trawler Africans become nothing to eat. At the same time, Raoul does not hesitate to manipulate figures, frankly exaggerating the catch volume by one and a half times.
Tellingly, the local Senegalese fishermen are not bored, and they themselves are genuine poachers who fish (unlike Russian vessels) without a license. Fishermen sell their prey to local plants located along the coast. In these factories, fish are used to make animal feed and fertilizer. Senegalese catch poachers in the food is not - all is only used as raw material for the manufacture of products for agricultural purposes, and production volumes are constantly increasing, which requires continual production of more and more raw materials.
At this rate, Senegal will soon be robbed of itself, without the participation of the mythical "Russian poachers." At the same time, Greenpeace closes its eyes to a violation of the rules of catch by Senegalese. It is available - the policy of double standards, so popular in the West. It becomes clear who was the scenario of the seizure of the Russian ship.
For Russia, 2013 year turned into a breakthrough in foreign policy. Western plans for Syria and Ukraine were destroyed, and a lot of smaller foreign policy issues were also solved. France - Customer provocation "Oleg Naydenov" - last year lost to Russia at all "fronts", especially on the Syrian Paris still considers Syria a piece of his defunct psevdoimperii and regretted that he could not deal with her as well as with Libya and Mali. Senegal, by the way, is also a fragment of the French empire, and the influence of France is quite large there. That is why the Paris-oriented Senegalese military was chosen as a tool for provocation. France regards public humiliation of Russia in Senegal as a kind of revenge for its numerous failures in the Middle East.
Senegal has also benefited from the provocation. The government is well aware of the Senegalese poachers, the gun along the West African coast, and about what they are selling their catch to producers of fertilizers and feed. Probably fall to the share of the sales and by Senegalese politicians - corruption has no nationality and corruption schemes in force in Senegal, hardly differ from similar schemes in other countries of the world.
Because quarreling with its closest neighbors is awkward to remove from the agenda an uncomfortable question about the impending environmental disaster in the Senegalese coast, it was decided to place the blame for poaching on someone outsider, preferably remote from Senegal in the many thousands of kilometers, and dangerously. This was skillfully used by France, which, together with the government of its former colony, planned military provocation against Russia. No wonder the Senegalese Minister of Fisheries, Haidar Ali, made a reservation about French aircraft watching Russian trawlers.
As for Greenpeace, involved in the scandal, it only continues a large-scale anti-Russian policy aimed at discrediting our companies. Greenpeace statements should be considered in the context of attacks on other objects of property of our enterprises, including the Prirazlomnaya platform.
France acted on behalf of the so-called "environmentalists" for two reasons. Firstly, it was necessary to find a formal reason for the attack on our trawler, Greenpeace and is ideal for creating a suitable background information and how to legitimize the illegal actions of the Senegalese military. Secondly, if France acted openly, that French voters would not understand Hollande and his allies, suddenly had organized the attack on the Russian vessel in Senegal, and, most likely, the president of the republic would have to be explained to the press, after the fact inventing a lot of silly excuses to attack . Thus, we see the implementation of the classic Western tactics, when a strong European state leads the puppet African regime and the same puppet "environmental" organization with a big name.
To negotiate with terrorists is useless
Unfortunately, so far Russian diplomacy is powerless. The authorities of Senegal do not react to the incident. Capturing our ship yet comment Only the representatives of Greenpeace, but diplomats can not negotiate with the non-governmental organization, as the "Greenpeace" has no right to dictate ultimatums sovereign states. Despite this, under pressure from Greenpeace, all the ministries of Senegal refuse to negotiate with the Federal Agency for Fisheries, even the call of the Senegalese ambassador to the Foreign Office did not help.
At the moment, the crew of the trawler "Oleg Naydenov" is in distress. Four of 62 Russian citizens need skilled medical care that Senegalese cannot or do not want to provide. Passports were withdrawn from all crew members, the trawler was not provided with drinking water. In fact, Russian citizens were taken hostage by Greenpeace members, who are increasingly resorting to overtly terrorist methods. It is not known what will end the crisis, but it is obvious: the old diplomatic tricks do not work, Russia must resolutely declare itself on the African continent, forcing the government of banana republics to respect us and our interests, or because of the impunity of attacks against our ships will become commonplace.
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