Madeleine Albright, US secretary of state in the Clinton administration, famously described America as the indispensable nation. Her supposed vaingloriousness has been criticised but she was right. In the absence of a supranational authority capable of exercising sovereignty, the task of guaranteeing global public goods like regional security and a reserve currency falls to the […]
Talk of contacts with Czech Intelligence has generated some entertaining headlines but it hasn’t done Jeremy Corbyn much harm. According to a YouGov poll, only eight per cent of voters think less of him. Nearly two-thirds (some of whom, I suppose, may have already thought that he was a Commie spy) are apparently left unchanged […]
Many politicians in Westminster think there is little the UK can do by itself to deter Russia’s aggression. From Ukraine to Syria and from conventional warfare to cyber warfare, the thinking goes, an effective response to the challenges Russia poses can be formulated and implemented only when the West acts in unity. Over the past […]
In the summer of 1969 Josef Frolik, a Czech spy who had defected to the United States, told the CIA he was “90 per cent sure” John Stonehouse, a Labour MP and junior minister in Harold Wilson’s government, was a Czech agent. When the Americans passed this information to their British counterparts, MI5 debriefed Frolik […]
Over the past year, Britain’s security and defence policy has been thrust into the limelight. On the one hand, the British government is keen to show its European allies that – irrespective of withdrawal from the EU – the UK will remain deeply committed to European security, with the Prime Minister expected to underscore this fact […]
North Korea is one big prison camp. When I visited it two years ago, it was the closest I had ever been to absolute evil. I was therefore greatly surprised to see so many celebrate the handshake between the President of South Korea, and Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un […]
You don’t have to look far for an indication that seven years in, the Syrian war is reaching even bloodier heights. Images from Eastern Ghouta, the suburb of Damascus where over 200 civilians, many of them women and children,have been killed in the last three days, show the effects of the relentless bombardment from artillery […]
In a bipartisan manner, Congress recently passed the FISA Reauthorization Act of 2017. On January 19th, President Trump signed this bill into law. The new law extends the controversial Section 702 program that allows the NSA to conduct warrantless surveillance of non-US citizens or residents. This program clearly serves the interests of our intelligence agencies. […]
Student politics has always been a site of radical dissent. In theory, there is nothing wrong with this. It is perfectly legitimate to question the wisdom of conventional beliefs or government policy. However, a line must be drawn. In recent years, the National Union of Students (NUS) has promoted “Students Not Suspects”, a student-led campaign […]
It is time to give an important figure in recent Russian history his historical due—Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev. A leading figure in the latter years of the Soviet government, Yakovlev began his career as a Red Army officer and a Communist Party apparatchik, but he ultimately became a devoted and effective enemy of Soviet tyranny. He […]
Speaking in Bethlehem the day after the slaughter at the Manchester Arena in May last year, Donald Trump made the following observation: “So many young beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life. I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that’s a […]
In some ways the Islamic State (ISIS) seemed to be a perfect enemy. Its initial success was so shocking, its modus operandi so brutal, that it focused minds across the world. The creation of a violent, theocratic statelet threatened not only the innocents within its areas of operation, but by implication every state. ISIS seemed […]
Last week I was in Brussels taking part in a discussion on radicalisation in prison. The event was hosted by the European Policy Centre, an independent think tank normally graced by the EU aristocracy. Perhaps the uncomfortable subject matter – the ghost at the banquet of European integration – kept Junker, Rompuy et al away. Maybe […]
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