Nothing quite makes the point about military irrelevance than being left out of the room
Divisions with the US are growing not just on defence and Ukraine - but on broader issues of society and democracy, following the US vice president's broadside against European countries including the UK and Germany over issues of free speech and religious freedom.
Not invited to American talks with Russia on the future of Ukraine, European leaders are holding a hastily convened meeting of their own on Monday.
Hastily convened meetings won't help though, the solution is more long term than that and it doesn't involve "Sir" Keir Starmer.
13 comments:
It might be that this hastily convened meeting is about the "existential threat" that Russia now poses, and which requires any sensible bureaucratic leader to develop closer ties with Europe. He won't want to, of course, but what's a little thing like a referendum compared to huge numbers of Russian soldiers with snow on their boots waiting to steal all our solar power?
It's tempting to press 'management aphorisms' into use - "If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem". Perhaps the European leaders have been side-lined because they appear to be obstacles on the way to ending the war?
As a bonus observation the same aphorism applies to the earlier post about Civil Service reform - their inclusion in the reform process is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
I said right at the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, it would end when the Americans wanted it to end. Biden (or whoever was behind the curtain while he was President) wanted it to continue, so it did. Now we have a new US President and he doesn't want it to continue, so it won't. Europe doesn't really have a say in it. Its been largely US military aid and cash thats kept the Ukrainians in the fight, and it'll be the withdrawal of that which ends it. Europe neither has the cash nor the military might to replace what the US provides. When you send your soldiers out to train with broomsticks because there weren't enough guns to go around, as the Germans did a few years ago, you don't get to have a say in geopolitics.
Sir Kleir is just the boy to demand the return of the sausages.
Starmer's want of grasp on reality approaches infinity. What length of segregation zone does he think the present micro-Army is capable of holding if that zone is indeed "in harm's way"? It took an Army of more than a million to hold the British section of the Western Front - barely 100 miles from the coast to the Somme. The line of separation in Ukraine will be longer than the whole of the Western Front.
Sam - yes, such close ties that it's almost like being a member, apart from the fees which have suddenly increased for affiliate members.
DJ - that seems to be it, European leaders are seen as part of the problem, leftovers from the Biden administration who have to be side-lined for that reason - they didn't understand realpolitik and still don't.
Sobers - I agree, Europe was never relevant and isn't now because it hasn't maintained military relevance. Europe should at least have seen that and should not have depicted itself as more capable than it is. Now it has been found out.
dearieme - he is, I hope he makes a speech too, they never do him any good.
Downside is, Starmer will take his frustration over Ukraine out on the British far right and bigoted conspiracy theorists.
decnine - he's weird, well they all are but Starmer is particularly weird. You are right, his want of grasp on reality does approach infinity. Makes him difficult to understand when he apparently doesn't grasp enough to react to shifting circumstances.
Reading this morning that Starmer is ready to deploy British troops to Ukraine, he may not be part of the solution, but he could easily become part of escalating the problem, with his gob alone
When you consider the miserable performance of the British Army (under Jackson's and Danatt's leadership), can one have any confidence that sending out our forces to Ukraine would be anything other than disastrous?
Anon - I think he'll continue to take it out on everyone.
Bucko - I agree, he's a nutter who could drag us into something we should have avoided.
Tammly - no confidence at all, it isn't easy to see anything going right.
Perhaps the British 'boots on the ground' could start with the sons and daughters of the political numpties who want those boots there.
Penseivat
Penseivat - good idea, that's where it should start.
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