Ukraine War
Is the Ukraine War Lose-Lose?
It was hard not to feel the sense of poignancy to the point of emotion; the man at the helm of the fight for democracy on behalf of the Western world walking into the chambers of one of the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world to the shouts of “
The Debt is Paid
8th May - Victory in Europe (VE) Day - every year, is one of a handful of dates scattered throughout the calendar that give me cause to pause, and reflect. 6th June is another, the date of the Normandy landings, and Remembrance Day on 11th November. The focus of pausing on each day is, of course, remembrance itself; the colossal sacrifice of an entire g…
The Uncomfortable Truth
There is an uncomfortable reality that the war in Ukraine has laid bare, but which in fact has been in the making for the duration of the post-Cold War period. That reality is that the operation of the so-called ‘liberal international order’ has been instrumental in facilitating the rise of a revisionist and aggressive Russia and a resurgent, belligeren…
What is Our Risk Threshold?
In March 1938, the British ambassador to Berlin, Sir Nevile Henderson, met with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to discuss potential resolutions to the growing unease over German territorial ambitions in Central Europe. According to the historian Michael Burleigh, the
Cause for Optimism, Pause for Caution.
Being proven wrong for the right reasons is always welcome. In last week's essay, I criticised the resurgent isolationism in the U.S., reserved particular scathing for the “toothless” EU and its impotent geopolitical manoeuvring with Russia, and condemned the well-wishing rhetoric from national governments in the absence of tangible action for Ukraine. …
Regression to the Great Power Mean
At the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the map of Europe was dominated by four empires: the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ottoman Empire (which extended from Europe across the Middle East), German Empire, and Russian Tsarist Empire. And then there was Britain, which while not having Continental possessions (Gibraltar aside), made up for it by having…