This European “nationalism” could well produce a considerably more populist EU. Whether that would be good for the UK is another matter.
Ukrainians fear that the horrors in Gaza and Israel are hogging the attention their Western backers. Some suspect that Vladimir Putin and his Iranian allies encouraged the Hamas atrocities precisely to open a second front against the democracies.
He long warned of the perils of NATO expansion, the need to manage China’s emergence onto the world stage, and the paucity of Western strategy. Tragically, he has been vindicated.
Even as he focuses primarily on Ukraine and Gaza, he should recognise the new axis of authoritarianism forming between China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, with Myanmar as a subsidiary,
The rage, frustration and contempt of its terms are a foretaste of what’s to come if the Conservatives lose the next election.
The Government has the opportunity in South Georgia to extend vital safeguards to a huge swathe of the Antarctic which is home to more biodiversity than the Galapagos.
At least 13 members of his front bench are in open revolt. As I write, that’s sustainable. As matters develop, it may not be.
Each demands an unequivocal response from the United Kingdom and other Western nations committed to defending both our values and our security.
For all the thunderous blow-back that is undoubtedly coming, Hamas has already got what it wanted, both domestically and strategically.
It is now impossible to imagine a prosperous, normal nation, integrated into the global economy and full of businesses keen on strong relations with Israel.
A victorious Russia would not only be free to continue its extermination of Ukrainian society, but its forces would be on the Polish border, and its leadership convinced that the West lacked the will or ability to defend itself.
It was my fourth visit to the country since Russia tried, but failed, to launch a full-scale invasion in February last year. The strength of my commitment to Ukraine grows with each visit.
The objective seems to be to help it survive and to stay in the fight (with perhaps 70,000 dead already), but not for it to win back its lost territories in a timely manner.
Russia’s invasion represented the first open attack on an already-fraying rules-based system. The post-Cold War status quo, about which we became complacent, is gone. Everything has changed.