In the wake of what seems to have been a fraught NATO summit, the Defence Secretary’s words are a reminder that public opinion in key nations is not so strongly behind the war as it is in Britain.
Joe Biden’s visit is a reminder that slavish enthusiasts for the American alliance and the most splenetic critics of the President can be equally embarrassing. Is a little Gaullist self-respect too much to ask?
Or: Хотспур. Which, in translation, would be “Hotspur – an immersive retelling of the Percy rebellion from Henry IV, Part I.”
It may not be possible for the West to find one, but it’s in our interest to try – no less than to support war-torn, Putin-invaded Ukraine.
Many of Tory MPs will be sick and tired of the self-reverential obsequies attached to the Committee’s deliberation and verdict – and of the hysteria, hate, vitriol and venom directed at a man without whom many would never have had the opportunity to serve in Parliament.
“Roads are the biggest challenge right now,” says Ukranian MP Lesia Vasylenko, and they need to be rebuilt to “allow communities to function properly”.
The Kremlin is inciting pro-Russian forces to split the Western alliance in defence of Ukraine. It is of major importance to British policy that they don’t succeed.
“This is the problem with our defence spending: there’s no redundancy in the system, and we live in increasingly dangerous times.”
The UK made a strategic mistake in dismissing the Messina Conference in 1955. This moment is not as seismic – but the UK should not pass up the opportunity to shape the post-Brexit, post-Ukraine, Europe where it can.
Secular stagnation, resource competition, and great power conflict loom. The era of growing interconnectivity and lowering prices is over; in a hostile new environment, self-sufficiency is everything.
Domestically, the opposition wants to change the constitution, and return the country to being a parliamentary republic. Above all, it promises a return to normalcy.
The aim of its attacks is obvious: drive down through the middle of the territory Russia occupies, divide its forces, prevent ammunition and fuel from getting into Crimea, and push into the peninsula once its supplies start running low:
Around three quarters of all transatlantic cables in the northern hemisphere pass through or near its waters – yet Dublin spends just 0.2 per cent of GDP on defence.
How would we have felt if our benefactors had grown tired of the burden and attempted to force us into a negotiated settlement with Hitler? Thankfully, Britain had the resolve to continue and our allies remained true.
Putin has tamed his mercenaries, promoted his allies, deposed perceived weak links in the military command, and is building a praetorian guard to safeguard against future threats.