Ukraine can be saved, if it sets an inclusive strategy against the divisive strategy of Russia. By Barend ter Haar, fellow of Clingendael, Netherlands Institute of International Relations So far, only Russia seems to have a deliberate strategy: it wants to restore as much as it can of the Soviet empire, but step by step and at low costs. The first step is to draw successor states back in its sphere of influence. As authoritarian states such as Belarus have nowhere else to go to, this strategy is working quite well. Secondly, when a country threatens to leave Moscow´s orbit, Moscow will promote its disintegration to keep as many parts as possible in its sphere of influence. Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia illustrate this policy. Thirdly, full annexation can wait, until (almost) everybody is used to the idea and an opportunity arises to do so with little cost. Time is a crucial factor and time seems to be on Russia ´s side. It can wait until Ukraine falls apart (and secretly promote that). What can Ukraine do to thwart this strategy? Above all, the government should not play in Russia´s hands by forcing protestors into the pro-Russian camp. It threatens to do so when it lumps together under the heading of terrorists both protesters that occupy buildings and people that torture and kill. To prevent that East-Ukrainian protestors believe they have no other options than independence or joining Russia, the government should make clear that it recognizes the following:

1. The great majority of protestors, both in Kiev and in the Eastern provinces are protesting for good reasons against years of corrupted governance.
2. Most of the protestors in the East are partners for reform, not opponents.
3. All perpetrators of terroristic actions, such as murder and torture, should be brought to justice, irrespective of their political views, including the perpetrators of the fire in Odessa.
4. Many Ukrainians combine close linguistic, historical and economic links with Russia with support for Ukrainian independence.
5. Ukraine’s system of government should be adapted to reflect the diversity of the country and to protect minorities.
6. Ukraine needs close and good relations with both the European Union and Russia (even if relations with Russia have been gravely damaged by the occupation of the Crimea).

In short, to have a chance on success, the Ukrainian government needs the wisdom and the courage to fight polarization in order to win the hearts and minds of the population of the Eastern provinces.  

By Jhr. mr. Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland, Justice (Judge) in the Court of Appeal and Special Advisor International Affairs of the Municipality of The Hague.

Before the summer holidays 2014 will start in July, The Hague offers all of us a lot of nice events in June. Too many to mention them all, but I will chose some you will prabably like. Those who know about Dutch history will know that Indonesia was a Dutch colony until after World War II, since when a lot of inhabitants of that hugue Asian country emigrated to The Netherlands, especially to The Hague. The expression ‘The Hague is the widow of the former Dutch East Indies’ was born then. At the moment the annual Tong Tong Festival is running at the Malieveld. Nice for those who want to ‘taste’ the previous three centuries of Dutch Asia that will never come back again. The world looks forward to the World Cup football (soccer) that will start in June in Brasil, but The Hague has at the moment its own World Cups: in field hockey, men and ladies. Participants are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, China, England, Germany, India, Korea, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and the United States of America. Around Kyocera Stadium every night the culture, food, drinks etc. of  one of the the participating countries –daily changing -will have special attention. On Thursday June 12th the ‘new Dutch herring’ (a sea fish) will ‘arrive’ in Scheveningen, which will be celebrated then and the days after (Saturday June 14th: ‘Vlaggetjesdag’) everywhere in and around Scheveningen. The Dutch eat it raw and please try to do as the Dutch do: if not immediately, you probably will find it delicious as well after some time ! The King will come to The Hague in June twice: for the opening of the yearly Sculptures Exposition, this year called ‘Grandeur’ (French sculptors), in the Kloosterkerk church on Tuesday June 17th and for the Grand Opening of the renewed and enlarged Mauritshuis Museum –small but world famous – on Friday June 27th. And please don’t forget Festival Classique: many beautiful concerts in the open air in the centre, around –and even on ! – the Hofvijver, which is the pond next to the Binnenhof (parliament). Enjoy Jolly June in The Hague !   a.beelaerts@planet.nl    

By Dr. Huub Ruël.  Windesheim University of Applied Sciences (Zwolle). Commercial diplomacy has become a priority in the foreign policies of many countries around the world. Embassies and consulates play an important role in effective commercial diplomacy. For this they need qualified staff. But how are commercial diplomats selected and trained for their work? For many young professionals, working as a diplomat can be very rewarding, and many diplomats love their work as they experience it as being relevant. Being a commercial diplomat usually means living in a foreign country, with family or partner, for a number of years. In addition to commercial and business skills, it requires skills and competences to adapt to new environments, legislation, cultures, lifestyles, and build networks. How do they perceive the nature of their work and living abroad? We[i] conducted a study on commercial diplomats’ work satisfaction and level of adaption by interviewing a group of commercial diplomats, and inviting them to fill out a questionnaire. The results showed that most commercial diplomats in our study were hired by the diplomatic service immediately after they finished their initial university degree program.  They were then trained to become a generalist, rather than a specialist in commercial diplomacy. Hardly any of the commercial diplomats in our study had private sector experience. For most of them, the nature of the work, lifestyle and career development opportunities were the motivating factors to apply for a position in the diplomatic service. Commercial diplomats in our study mentioned that they do not receive significant training during their stay at a foreign post. Specific training programs on marketing, commerce and finance were not provided in most cases. Regarding work satisfaction, female commercial diplomats appeared to be more satisfied with their work than their male colleagues, and commercial diplomats working in developed countries were more satisfied than ones working in emerging economies. Commercial diplomats seemed to be well adapted to living and working in their host countries. Our study showed that receiving cross-cultural training is positively related to both general adaption and work adaption. The duration of experience in current postings does contribute to general adaption, but not to work adaption. Our study suggests that general adaption and work adaption seem to have a positive influence on work satisfaction. The more commercial diplomats feel adapted to living abroad and to their work, the greater their work satisfaction. In conclusion, our study indicates that countries need to improve the preparation and training of their current and  future commercial diplomats. Training in business and commerce as well as cross-cultural training can improve the commercial diplomats’ adaption to living abroad and to their work. This in turn contributes to their overall work satisfaction. Since commercial diplomacy has become important for many countries, it is key to recruit, select and train professionals specifically to develop their commercial diplomacy competences. Training programs for young diplomats should contain modules on international business and trade and investment promotion, and additional programs should be offered during postings. The modern international business environment is complex and requires highly qualified diplomats.

By Peter Knoope, Directeur ICCT. In recent weeks I traveled to two countries in sub-Sahara Africa. Both affected by terrorism. Both challenged with the question of how to strategically answer to the threat of violent extremism. One of them is Nigeria. I know the press recently has given lots of information on developments in that country. So let me focus on the other one: Kenya. The workshop we organised there focused on SC Resolution 1624. Now you may not know how  SCR 1624 reads. I do. The resolution addresses how to deal with and respond to, hatred, hate-speech, incitement, and incitement to violence. It basically deals with the question of how to respond to calling upon people to kill others. I don’t think anybody doubts whether the issue bears any relevance in Kenya. We all know that there is an array of reasons to discuss this issue under the present circumstances in that country. But there was much more than SC Resolution 1624 to discuss. Since the resolution tries to address part of a strategic approach to counter-terrorism (CT) worldwide. Since 2006 the UN has adopted a strategic approach to CT. It is laid down in a CT Strategy adopted in September 2006 and revised on a regular basis by member states. This is one of the most relevant documents in my field of work and I highly recommend it to anybody working in our field. In this document you will also find reference to factors conducive to violence and factors leading to radicalisation. And most importantly, you will find reference to the work and contribution of the Civil Society Organisations. In fact, the document links the two. Civil Society Organisations on the one hand and counter-radicalisation on the other. Allow me to go a little deeper into the issues at hand that all relate to this part of the UN Strategy. One can have different perspectives when it comes to terrorism and terrorist attacks. One way of looking at it is the terrorist attack as a message. If we do look at the messaging part of the terrorist attack then the question is relevant: what is the messenger trying to convey? What is the message? Isn’t terrorism a message of despair and anger? Isn’t it a message of frustration and conviction? Is the terrorist telling us he has lost all perspective? The loss of belief in human values? Isn’t terrorism a message of dehumanisation and cynicism? We should of course do everything possible to prevent such things from happening. My perspective then is that we, as a society, should prevent the anger, frustration, loss of perspective and hate at any price. Let’s make sure people do not lose sight of human values and start dehumanising others. Let us prevent people reaching that stage of dehumanisation and cynicism. I shared with the people in Kenya the recipe that we have developed at the ICCT, also based on the UN CT Strategy of 2006. This recipe is counter-intuitive. It is against our reflexes and initial natural responses set by nature. The secret lies in the way we look at the message. Because if we can suppress our reflex and if we can listen to the message, we could, on the basis of that, be able to engage and dialogue. We could maybe be empathetic. Engagement and empathy that could potentially even lead to trust-building. I immediately agree that it is counter-intuitive. That may even be too soft a term. Call me a dreamer, call me utopic. So be it. But what is the alternative? Isn’t the alternative more clashes, confrontations, body bags, victims, anger, frustrations, hence the spiral upwards? If the response to terrorism is hitting back, more violence, then the next stage is not less anger and frustration, but more. The spiral of violence will go up. It will not come down. And once the violent spiral is up, coming down is not easy. If we increase, they will increase, our answer is more violence, more revenge will be the result. We know for a fact that once the spiral has gone up, and both parties are high up, then coming down will take long and will require a long process of reconciliation and reconstruction -including trust-building. So our recipe is engagement and dialogue that may lead to understanding and less anger and frustration. To be able to do this, a “space” is needed in which this can take place. Our meeting in Kenya was the starting point of a dialogue. ICCT was offering a space in Nairobi. A space to be filled with dialogue and trust-building. The space was there, and the participants made good use of it. They had the key in their hands to reduce hate, anger and hate speech. Some of them vocalised the perspective of the government and the state. They looked at the issues from a state security perspective. That is important, but not the only perspective of relevance. Because some others looked at the issues from a peoples’ perspective. They vocalised the human security side. They were sometimes surprised to learn the differences and that both perspectives have value. Both are necessary. The point is that the two perspectives are different. They took the time and used the space to listen and gain understanding of the other perspective. That is not immediately going to solve all the problems in Kenya, but it allows for a next phase in a process of engagement between different positions. After not more than just a couple of days, participants walked away with concrete commitments to ensure future activities; based on their earlier activities and priorities but with more depth and commitment through the exchange of positions. This space served as a starting point. It required wisdom and resilience to critical voices. It required openness and constructive engagement. But it worked and led to concrete outcomes and plans for future work in the field of education, de-radicalisation and reintegration of formers back into society. Nobody wants the spiral to go up. That is what united the participants gathered. Although positions and perspectives may be different, they all wanted the same thing. Nobody wants hate-speech to be a dominant feature of our societies. Nobody wants to increase frustrations and anger. But to reduce all that, we need to be ready to listen. And we should be ready to look beyond the violent message. The message of the terrorist. From 25 – 29 August this year the ICCT organises a summer programme on related issues. If you or any of your government or civil society representatives want to be part of the space that we offer there to discuss CT issues, you are more than welcome. It is called “Countering Terrorism in the Post-9/11 World: Legal Challenges and Dilemmas” and is jointly organized with the T.M.C. Asser Institute. Topics in the program begin with basic dilemmas that CT practitioners face: What is the accepted international definition of terrorism, or how do various national definitions differ? Such questions then lead on to more practical matters: Should practitioners follow a war paradigm, or should existing (inter)national law enforcement structures be used? How should evidence be gathered to prosecute terrorists, particularly, if on a battlefield? Or can intelligence information and other sources be used and protected while still respecting the rights of the accused? Further issues like the use of drones or the use and effectiveness of mass surveillance will be addressed.  If you are interested know that we welcome you and that more information is on our ICCT’s website. http://icct.nl/activities/upcoming-events/countering-terrorism-in-the-post-9/11-world-legal-challenges-dilemmas