Neither country is a formal ally of Britain or critical to its defence. Now, with the looming threat of a serious east-west confrontation, the least we should expect of Britain’s probable next prime minister, Liz Truss, is that she drops her cliches and articulates clearly what she sees as Britain’s objectives, if any, in Ukraine and Taiwan. Instead, in the cause of “interests and values” it has killed untold thousands of foreigners in my name and to virtually no gain. Never in my lifetime has the Ministry of Defence had to defend my country against a remotely plausible overseas threat, least of all from Russia or China.
Britain abandoned Hong Kong to China and donated Afghanistan to the Taliban, the futility of the latter intervention shown last week in the drone killing of al-Qaida’s leader in Kabul.Ġ2:13 Pelosi's Taiwan visit sparks furious reaction from China – video report Hence wayward policies towards Iran, Syria, Libya, Rwanda, Myanmar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and others. Despite Pelosi’s claim, the west “gives in” at its own convenience, intervening or failing to do so. Such an order has become arbitrary and knows no boundaries. What is new is the conversion of the old western imperialism into a new order of western “ interests and values”, ready to be prayed in aid of any intervention. The west is blighted by weakened and failing leaders, striving to boost their ratings by promoting conflicts abroad. The eastern bloc is led by two autocrats, internally secure but paranoid about their borders. Those lines reportedly do not exist today. As the frontline pleaded for help, woe betide anyone who preached compromise.ĭuring the two east-west nuclear crises of the cold war, in 1962 over Cuba and 1983 over a false missile alarm, disaster was averted by informal lines of communication between Washington and Moscow. Flags flew and newspapers filled with tallies of weaponry. Rulers dithered while generals strutted and rattled sabres. These are the same uncertainties that overwhelmed European diplomacy in 1914. All Russia can do is perpetrate ever more atrocities to keep its team in play. But can Russia really be relied on to tolerate ever greater destruction of its armaments without escalation? The west seems set on holding Ukraine to a drawn game, hoping to postpone some horrific penalty shootout. The US and Britain reiterate that Russia “ must fail and be seen to fail”. A similar ambiguity infuses the west’s attitude towards Russia over Ukraine.