Share this postUkraine War3amthoughts.substack.comCopy linkFacebookEmailNoteOtherUkraine WarAlan FlanaganDec 31, 2023Share this postUkraine War3amthoughts.substack.comCopy linkFacebookEmailNoteOtherShareIs the Ukraine War Lose-Lose?February 12, 2023It 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 “Read full storyThe Debt is PaidAlan Flanagan·May 8, 20228th 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…Read full storyThe Uncomfortable TruthAlan Flanagan·March 27, 2022There 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…Read full storyWhat is Our Risk Threshold?Alan Flanagan·March 13, 2022In 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, theRead full storyCause for Optimism, Pause for Caution.Alan Flanagan·March 6, 2022Being 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. …Read full storyRegression to the Great Power MeanAlan Flanagan·February 27, 2022At 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…Read full story
