Gustavo de Arístegui: "The Sahel is NATO's pending issue"

According to Gustavo de Arístegui, among the controversies like Ceuta and Melilla, when we find ourselves in such a delicate Cold War situation, a more than declared war because of the way sanctions and gas cuts affect the price of energy and inflation NATO has finally stood up.

Gustavo de Arístegui thinks that NATO has taken a step forward as it is already high time. “Many member countries of the Atlantic Alliance have understood that NATO is not a club where others protect us, but a club where efforts must be collective. The synergy of the union of thirty cannot produce thirty, and for that, everyone must commit. What is incredible, and I will say this very clearly, is that for a long time previously neutral countries, such as Sweden, had a much more intense and better coordinated presence with NATO in Afghanistan than many members of the Atlantic Alliance. It is worth remembering the extraordinary role that Swedish special forces have played in major operations, as well as the courage and skill of these forces”, explains the diplomat.

Gustavo de Arístegui

Gustavo de Arístegui also thinks that this is the worst news for Vladimir Putin, who thought NATO was flat-headed and who today is stronger than ever with enlargement to Sweden and Finland. According to Mr. Arístegui, “Without a doubt, if he tried to prevent the Atlantic Alliance from moving closer to his borders, what he got was that the Atlantic Alliance moved closer to his borders. If there is a country in the world, in this case in the West, that has the longest border with Russia, it is Finland, the only country that has defeated the Russians, the former Soviet Union, in a conventional war”.

Gustavo de Arístegui also considers that the Sahel is NATO's unfinished business. In the diplomat’s words, “That's the big deal and the unfinished business”. Too often, the leaders of the Atlantic Alliance have been countries of central, eastern and northern Europe. In Gustavo’s opinion, the problems have always been more in the east than in the south, but the problems in the east are going to be constant and are now pressing, but the problems in the south are pressing all the time, that's the difference, he says.

Gustavo also details that the others, i.e., “the less wealthy countries of the European Union, the less wealthy countries of NATO, have suffered, and they have been the policemen of the EU and of the rest of NATO. Terrorism in the Sahel is chronic and not improving; it gets worse. The presence of Wagner, Russian mercenaries and Russia in other countries does not help to curb terrorism”. Furthermore, Gustavo also explains that it prevents the presence of Western forces from being effective and prevents Daesh and Al-Qaeda from spreading very strongly north and south, contaminating and recruiting young people in the region who are not radicalized into jihadism very quickly. Gustavo de Arístegui thinks it was unfinished business and they fell short, but the best is the enemy of the good.