Russian Fishing Agency accuses Greenpeace of pulling strings in Senegal to stall trawler seizure

Russian Fishing Agency accuses Greenpeace of pulling strings in Senegal to stall trawler seizure   Published time: January 08, 2014 13:40 

[.. “Why are they taking upon themselves what is a government's responsibility to protect their waters and biological resources?” said Saveliev.]

Greenpeace is pulling strings in Senegal to stall Russia's effort to release a fishing ship with over 80 members of crew on board. The vessel was impounded last week on allegations of illegal fishing, says the Russian fishery regulator.

The accusations come after Senegal authorities revoked their earlier permission to let the captain of the ship, who had been injured during her capture, be treated in a Dakar hospital and failed to appear at a scheduled round of negotiations.

“Based on these statements from Greenpeace, one may conclude that the army of Senegal is acting upon these claims,” Aleksandr Savelyev, head of the Rosrybolobstvo's press service, said explaining the agency's allegations against the environmental organization to RT. He added that Greenpeace words“evoke bewilderment, even indignation”.

The Russian regulator reiterated accusations against Greenpeace, which it blamed for the impounding of the Oleg Naydenov trawler. The agency cited a Tuesday statement by Greenpeace Africa, which praised the Senegal government for detaining the Russian ship.

“Following the detention of the Russian-flagged trawler the “Oleg Naydenov” by the Senegalese national navy on charges of illegal fishing, Greenpeace reiterates its support to the government of Senegal for the enforcement of fisheries legislation and calls on the President and his government to remain firm on its commitment to put an end to illegal activities by such vessels,” the statement read.

The Battle for Ukraine - December, 2013

The Battle for Ukraine - December, 2013

Vladimir Putin's dream of creating a Russian-led Eurasian Union is slowly but surely becoming a reality. The smoke in Kiev will eventually clear and Ukraine will set course with big brother. Soon thereafter, it will be Georgia's turn. With the following I would like to take a brief look at what has been happening in the Ukraine during the month of December and in doing so also address some other topics that I believe are related.

People don't normally wake up one day and simply decide to take to the streets en masse just because their government has made a decision they don't like. For a mass political protest to take place, in a hotly contested nation nonetheless, you need three essential ingredients: A motivation, a well organized network of activists and of course high level individuals capable of pulling financial and/or political strings.

The motivation in Kiev is clearly there, I will briefly describe the deep rooted anti-Russian sentiments of many Ukrainian nationalists and liberals later in this commentary. The organizers in Kiev are there, a not so little army of Western funded and led NGOs, independent journalists, rights advocates, political activists, clergymen and government officials. And we also know that there are high level policymakers in various power centers around the world that would love to drive a permanent wedge between Ukraine and Russia purely for geostrategic reasons.

These are the three basic factors that are taking the sheeple to the streets in Kiev. These are the factors that can start a civil war or attempt a violent coup d'état if the movement's organizers, masterminds and financiers conclude that the reaction from Moscow will be weak or something that they can afford to risk. To put it in other words, if the ringleaders of these protests are made to fear a serious Russian reprisal, they may not be foolish enough incite large scale violence or seek a forceful overthrow of the government in Kiev.

Therefore, much is riding on how Moscow handles this situation. 

Kiev and Moscow need to be very careful with the way they are dealing with these protests. The best course for Ukrainian and Russian officials to take would be to do what they are doing now: Take a step back, resort to soft power and allow these protests to run their natural course, all the while keeping a tight control over the situation by closely monitoring the activities of the country's Western funded NGOs, political activists and journalists of news organizations.

Under no circumstances should there be a disproportionate use of violence against protesters. A violent overreaction by the authorities is what Western powers are actually hoping for. 

However, in addition to a well calculated and soft approach vis-à-vis Kiev, Russian officials need to begin posturing aggressively against Western interests elsewhere to divert attention.