Not for the first time, Diane Abbott has performed some service. Appearing on the Today programme this morning, she confidently told listeners that in the matter of the arrest of Julian Assange, “we all know what this is about”. Ms Abbott, who is projected to serve as Home Secretary if the Labour party forms the […]
The idea that the European Union’s has brought peace to the Old Continent is among federalists’ favourite arguments in favour of ever more integration. In fairness, it is true that the EU played a significant role in its early stages in securing peace in an area of the world which had seen millions upon millions die […]
Turkey’s falling out with Australia and New Zealand since the Christchurch terrorist attacks is a reminder of the distance that has opened up between Ankara and Western capitals. And that gap is only increasing. Whilst Turkey remains a member of NATO and is negotiating its accession to the European Union, its illiberal tendencies and its […]
Brexit is an existential matter for the EU. It is losing its strongest military power, its second-largest economy, and its premier financial centre where more than half of all Eurozone borrowing and equity issue occurs. It is also losing a member state with enough votes under qualified majority voting to change the balance of power […]
Following the UK’s Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s recent visit to Bardufoss base in northern Norway, hundreds of Royal Marines were deployed to the Arctic Circle for training purposes. The Defence Secretary announced an increased British presence in the Arctic to support NATO’s northern flank from Russia. This is due in part to Russian submarines’ increased activity in […]
The summit talks between North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and US president, Donald Trump, began in a climate of surprise and expectation in Singapore in June 2018. They have now ended (for the time being) in disappointment in Hanoi, Vietnam, with Trump walking out. The US president said: “It was all about the the sanctions. […]
“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others”, goes a famous line from Otto von Bismarck. As the Paris protests have recently exposed, European societies currently face a twin threat – the inability of their own elites to deal with internal crises and external agents using […]
The signing of the Aachen Treaty by President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel last Tuesday was hailed as the latest move to bind France and Germany together, setting the stage for the rebirth of European confidence after years of stagnation. Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, declared warily: “Today Europe needs a […]
Poor David Cornwell. He is the country’s most famous (real) spy, a veteran of MI5 and MI6, who as the Berlin Wall was being built, was busy tapping up Soviet diplomats in Bonn, and yet among the UK’s commentariat he has developed a latter-day reputation as some kind of apologist for communism. On Monday, Alex Massie […]
The recent announcement that the United Kingdom will increase its defence engagement with the Sultanate of Oman reinforces a historic strategic alliance between the two states, highlighting a relationship dating back to the 18th century. Based around a respect for national sovereignty and access to critical trading routes, the Government should seek to build upon […]
On Sunday, Russian ships fired on three Ukrainian naval vessels as they passed through the Kerch Strait, a sliver of water that separates Russia from Russian-occupied Crimea. The vessels, which had left the Ukrainian port of Odessa and were heading for the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, were seized, along with 23 crew members. They had […]
International isolation, internal instability and a faltering economy have led Iran’s government to revive its policy of detaining dual nationals such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in an attempt to exert diplomatic leverage over the West. That policy appears to have proved successful, with Jeremy Hunt visiting Iran this week, apparently with the aim of securing her […]
The Centenary of the end of the Great War has elicited a lot of reflection, not just on the war, but on Remembrance Day itself. Was the Great War worth it? What will Remembrance Day become as time increases the distance between us and those who sacrificed their lives for a cause we increasingly fail […]
For those following the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, in the immortal words of former US president Ronald Reagan, “you ain’t seen nothing yet”. With the Democrats regaining control of the House of Representatives, Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia is likely to become a – perhaps the — dominant theme in DC. […]
The centenary of the First World War comes to an end this weekend in a world markedly different from the one in which it began. Who could now fully recall that distant world of 2014 in which Donald Trump commanded only the boardroom of The Apprentice, Jeremy Corbyn was an obscure backbencher and nobody had ever heard […]
During Britain’s EU referendum, Remain campaigners liked to claim that the case for Leaving didn’t just depend on false promises about life after the EU, but also on outlandish claims about the ambitions of EU federalists. The biggest lie was apparently that there would ever be a European army. The most trenchant dismissal of that […]
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