The divisions we believe exist between us are artificial Christmas is the time of year when human beings put aside their differences and come together. It is difficult to find a truer example of this essence of our character than during the first winter of the First World War. Ordinary soldiers on both sides of…
The world can no longer afford to swim with the green tide In 2008, Britain’s parliamentarians passed the Climate Change Act (CCA), which committed Britain to achieving Net Zero by 2050. As The Economist put it, CCA “would mark the end of Britain’s contribution to global warming, notwithstanding ‘exported’ emissions resulting from products made abroad”.…
And how to make it more resistant to drones and missile strikes As an academic who teaches risk management to an international student audience, I sometimes reflect on whether what I teach is relevant to solving real-world problems such as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, global warming, pandemic risk and regional conflict. Regarding the latter problem, specifically…
History is replete with false flag operations The 2022 Russia-Ukraine war is being waged on the battlefield and in cyberspace. In the propaganda war, false flags abound. The term false flag describes either: An act of self-harm undertaken to cast an enemy in a bad light and garner sympathy and material support from allies, or…
The battle for the values it was fought for – the defense of justice, rights and freedoms – never ceases
The battle for the values it was fought for – the defence of justice, rights and freedoms – never ceases In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row. It was at the funeral of his close friend and comrade Alexis Helmer that Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae was first moved to write…
Rodric Braithwaite’s book, Russia Myths and Realities, a perfect segue into Putin's brain Prior to the February invasion of Ukraine, my knowledge of Russian history pretty much started with the early 19th century. Everything before that was vague and fragmentary, enlivened only by titillating tales of Catherine the Great’s purported sexual appetite. But there’s much…
But our leaders are failing us, and they are putting all of our lives at risk
We are potentially living in the most dangerous time in history since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The world owes a great deal to American President John F. Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev who were able to back away from global nuclear destruction during that crisis through skillful negotiation. Reflecting on the event…
Russia continues to deny the Holodomor; Turkey continues to deny the Armenian genocide
The world is facing trying times. How did we get here? Did we not learn anything from the death and destruction of the 20th century? Jewish philosopher Martin Buber told us, “One gains power over the nightmare by calling it by its real name.” Another Jewish writer, Raphael Lemkin, coined the name for the nightmare:…
The Russian President likely anticipated his blitz would undermine Ukrainian morale. It didn't
In May 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a truck across the Kerch Strait Bridge, the Russian Federation’s new link with Crimea, illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. On Oct. 8, 2022, an improvised explosive device, possibly hidden inside a truck, was detonated on the bridge, bringing down a roadway and damaging a freight train.…
The West won’t dig itself out of the crisis unless it decisively responds to Putin’s strategic aim
The cost of living crisis is being misrepresented and mishandled by the political class. Misrepresented because only occasionally do politicians link the crisis to the Russia-Ukraine War and Putin’s use of hybrid warfare to destabilize the West; mishandled because, fundamentally, the solution lies not in economic measures but in ensuring first that Russia is defeated…