Who will inherit Europe? Xi’s visit makes this an open question
For all the pomp and ceremony attending the French leg of Xi Jinping’s European tour, it is the stops in Budapest and Belgrade that carry the greater geopolitical significance…
Pre-war reality means 1910s, not 1930s
The fact that we are living at a time of increasing historical and strategic illiteracy, including among political leaders and so-called experts, can hardly be disputed.
Hope, reloaded: How the new US aid package will help Ukraine
Despite what some sceptics say - particularly the multi-polarity types who often sound like Sputnik or RT propaganda - the $60 billion Ukraine aid package really is a big…
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Western tech may have beaten Iran’s air attack, but greater challenges are to come
Iran's historic air strike against Israel, featuring 320 munitions, was effectively neutralized by Western forces, showcasing advanced military collaboration and technology.
Where do you fit in? Today’s four schools of thought on strategic policy: Post-Modern Globalists, the Multipolarity School, the Eurasianist School, and the Classical Primacy School
The Western conversation on statecraft and defence in our times appears to have reached new peaks of strife, cacophony and sheer multiplicity and divergence of views even…
Going back to basics at 75: NATO must defend itself robustly if attacked, nothing more, nothing less
That NATO has reached its 75th anniversary this week should be a cause for genuine celebration across the West and by all free and open societies around the world.
Many are demanding a massive rearming of Germany – but is it a good idea?
Bashing Berlin on defence has become a very popular sport among experts and officials across NATO.
The West’s limits: We should back Ukraine to the hilt with money and weapons, but – no Macron – this is not an existential war for Europe
The collective flight of reason triggered by Emmanuel Macron’s bombshell suggestion last month about a possible Western military intervention in Ukraine is only gathering…
Who should next lead NATO? A Secretary General from Eastern Europe is long overdue and the only real option is Klaus Iohannis
For 75 years, NATO has defended the free nations of the Euro-Atlantic region and provided the shield behind which prosperity could flourish.
Full-fledged American isolationism would be devastating – for its own interests, first and foremost
In his farewell address George Washington urged his compatriots and their descendants to restrict America’s involvement in the world and avoid entangling alliances.
Macron’s folly: Sending troops to Ukraine is a very bad idea, from the wrong person, at the wrong time
At a time when Ukraine desperately needs practical deliveries of weapons and ammunition to help sustain its defence against advancing Russian forces, president Macron has…
An historic US security break with Europe is becoming increasingly likely – regardless of whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden is in the White House
We have been travelling in this direction for many years. First there was Obama’s pivot to the Pacific, an early reaction to China’s rise;
Delusions on display: The emptiness of the West’s strategic thinking will be on full show at the 2024 Munich Security Conference
The Munich Security Conference (MSC), which opens this week, is the Davos of the defence and strategic policy world.
With war on the horizon, the West’s foreign-aid extravaganza must be reined in
It is no coincidence that Claire Underwood, the lethal power-woman in House of Cards, starts the US TV show as the CEO of Clean Water Initiative, a global development charity.
Is Europe ready to defend itself without the US? Not yet, but now it knows it has to, and it’s on the right track – just about
The past couple of weeks have witnessed one of the biggest and most consequential shifts in European strategic policy since 1945.
Post-Ukraine, everything has changed and there is no return to normal: Reconfiguring the State to deal with recurring crises is now a matter of survival
Much of European public attention is riveted on internal issues such as net zero and deindustrialisation, the cost of living crisis, illegal migration or indeed the rise of…
The welcome but feeble Yemen strikes show that half-measures don’t work anymore: The West needs to relearn how to act with overwhelming force
The 11/12 January joint US-UK bombardment of rebel Houthi positions in the Yemen was extremely welcome despite its glaring shortcomings.
The Red Sea crisis: Britain and the United States are right to launch strikes against the Houthis
The disgraceful spectacle on display in the Red Sea, courtesy of Houthi impudence and Western “restraint”, is not just an outrage.
Predictions for 2024: Brace for geo-strategic impact. A look at what else will go wrong next year – or not
History is not just on the move again, it is at a gallop.
Will armed militias ever spring up in Europe again? As internal strife spreads across the continent and Ukraine falters, the Freikorps are a warning from history
It is the dead of winter and the country teeters on the brink of collapse. With energy now too expensive, cities are cold, overcrowded and rife with disease.
What is the real Donald Trump doctrine in foreign affairs? At its core is a belief in American exceptionalism – but it is certainly not isolationism
With polls now regularly placing Donald Trump ahead of Joe Biden in next year’s US presidential election, the extraordinary prospect of his return to the Oval Office is…
The West can still get things done: The ramp-up in Allied ammo production is a reminder of our inherent strength
There is no hiding the fact that across key Western nations the mood is darkening in relation to the Ukraine war.
The West’s geopolitical situation is deteriorating – and we are doing too little about it: Five scenarios for the next decade
In a world of war, we must recalibrate our grand-strategic thinking. Here are five geopolitical scenarios for what could happen in the coming years
Is the Ukraine war at a turning point? Zelensky and his top general paint a grim picture
Amid the intense global coverage of events in Israel since the inhuman atrocities perpetrated by ISIS/Hamas on October 7, and with Western publics distracted by the vast,…
As we saw before in the 1930s, the West’s moral disarmament is even more dangerous than its military inadequacies
Each year, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, a two-minute silence descends upon the whole of Britain.
Putin’s embrace of Hamas is the ultimate warning for Europe’s remaining Russophiles – there is no conservative case for cosying up to the Kremlin
The unspeakable atrocities perpetrated on October 7 by the inhuman ISIS/Hamas brutes were evidently welcomed in Moscow as a boost to Russia’s fortunes.
‘Give war a chance’: Calls for ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza are only playing into terrorists’ hands
As the USS Dwight D Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group steams at full speed across the Atlantic towards the Middle East, the hope must be that the United States, alongside Israel,…
The West can’t allow itself to seem weak: Biden and Blinken’s humiliation in the Middle East must be answered in kind
Tuesday night America’s global power snapped.
Israel, Poland and the week when Europe’s fate hangs in the balance
In the cascade of epochal events that have battered the foundations of our post-Cold War world in recent years, the phrase “turning point” has become cliché.
The ‘rules-based international order’ is a myth – and the sooner the West wakes up to this the safer we will be
There is an old quip by Voltaire about the Holy Roman Empire, pointing out that it was nothing of the sort: neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.