Presentation & Discussion

Duisburg: »Performance Test North Africa: Transatlantic Security Partnership at its End?«

with Dr. Jamie Shea, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO, in discussion with Dr. Andrew Denison, Director of Transatlantic Networks.

Amerika Haus e.V. NRW presented a discussion with Dr. Jamie Shea and Dr. Andrew Denison about the political unrest in North Africa: What are the consequences of the German abstention in the UN Security Council concerning military operations for the military alliance between European and North American states?

The Arabic world is in revolt, and the international community is debating on appropriate measures to alleviate the situation. Initially, the political crisis in North Africa has taken the European Union completely by surprise. The UN Security Council approved a military operation: As a non-permanent member, Germany decided to abstain from voting. In April 2011, Germany decided to approve the European Council’s operation “EUFOR Libya”, providing humanitarian aid for Libya.

If one were to take the German “special path” seriously, one would actually have to prohibit US flight operations originating from German air force bases to Libya. The question remains, though, whether this would endanger the transatlantic security community’s actions and limit NATO’s room for action. However, successful diplomacy depends mostly upon flexibility and ambiguity.

The talk was commented by Dr. Andrew B. Denison, Director of Transatlantic Networks. At this research network, based in Königswinter, Andrew Denison deals with geostrategy in the age of globalization and, in particular, with the future of the NATO.

Arnd Henze, deputy director of the “Programmgruppe Ausland” at WDR television, was the host for the evening. Mr. Henze has been working as foreign policy television editor and reporter for the WDR since 1992 and is, amongst other things, responsible for the “ARD Weltspiegel” and the editorial management of ARD’s TV studios in Washington and New York.