Fighting Words
As the situation in the Ukraine continues to deteriorate towards full-scale conflict, a strikingly robust and well-informed piece by the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is worth a read.
The British Government is not in dispute with Russia and the Russian people – far from it – but it does take issue with the malign activity of the Kremlin.
So, if one cold January or February night Russian Military forces once more cross into sovereign Ukraine, ignore the ‘straw man’ narratives and ‘false flag’ stories of NATO aggression and remember the President of Russia’s own words in that essay from last summer. Remember it and ask yourself what it means, not just for Ukraine, but for all of us in Europe. What it means the next time…
This piece is striking not just for its clarity and bluntness, but also for being a detailed essay responding, as the quote above shows, to an essay published on the official Russian government website by President Putin last year. Indeed, it echoes that essay explicitly by also being published directly on the UK government site.
It’s fascinating, in passing, to see rival governments conducting one thread of a key geopolitical dispute by publishing directly on their own official websites, rather than by placing their commentary in friendly media as has been traditional. Tech’s publishing revolution continues, also visible in how Bradley’s piece has been shared on Twitter by allies, like the former president of Estonia Toomas Ilves.
But of course, the main concern right now is the threat of a real war breaking out. Britain seems in no mood to look weak. Here’s one summary of the stark choice we seem to have finally reached.
It’s time to put up or shut up. Either we back Kyiv — by giving it full military support and smashing Russia with sanctions, or we have the guts to tell the Ukrainians that we are abandoning the non-Nato east to Russia and start to draw real red lines that we will actually enforce. It’s time to back Ukraine — or, once and for all, just tell these people, who have suffered so much to defend our interests, that they are on their own for good.
As the situation in the Ukraine continues to deteriorate towards full-scale conflict, a strikingly robust and well-informed piece by the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is worth a read.
The British Government is not in dispute with Russia and the Russian people – far from it – but it does take issue with the malign activity of the Kremlin.
So, if one cold January or February night Russian Military forces once more cross into sovereign Ukraine, ignore the ‘straw man’ narratives and ‘false flag’ stories of NATO aggression and remember the President of Russia’s own words in that essay from last summer. Remember it and ask yourself what it means, not just for Ukraine, but for all of us in Europe. What it means the next time…
This piece is striking not just for its clarity and bluntness, but also for being a detailed essay responding, as the quote above shows, to an essay published on the official Russian government website by President Putin last year. Indeed, it echoes that essay explicitly by also being published directly on the UK government site.
It’s fascinating, in passing, to see rival governments conducting one thread of a key geopolitical dispute by publishing directly on their own official websites, rather than by placing their commentary in friendly media as has been traditional. Tech’s publishing revolution continues, also visible in how Bradley’s piece has been shared on Twitter by allies, like the former president of Estonia Toomas Ilves.
But of course, the main concern right now is the threat of a real war breaking out. Britain seems in no mood to look weak. Here’s one summary of the stark choice we seem to have finally reached.
It’s time to put up or shut up. Either we back Kyiv — by giving it full military support and smashing Russia with sanctions, or we have the guts to tell the Ukrainians that we are abandoning the non-Nato east to Russia and start to draw real red lines that we will actually enforce. It’s time to back Ukraine — or, once and for all, just tell these people, who have suffered so much to defend our interests, that they are on their own for good.