Listen up, Mr Johnson.
I’m one of your constituents – and I’m not a happy bunny.
Russian troops are poised to invade our continent’s largest democracy – and yet Britain has only sent a limited amount of assistance to help deter them, despite the UK being a co-signatory, along with the US and Russia, of the main international agreement supporting the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.
The massive Russian deployment – 120,000 troops and large numbers of tanks – is without doubt the most serious threat to European peace and security since the height of the Cold War and possibly since World War II.
If Putin invades Ukraine, and Europe is plunged into crisis, the whole of our continent including Britain is likely to be affected – both economically and militarily. British livelihoods and lives are at risk.
It’s quite clear that the Russian president wants to re-establish the Soviet empire – and that he wants to divide and weaken our continent to achieve that.
By orchestrating Brexit, you (albeit unintentionally) did Putin’s bidding.
Your government knows Russia may have interfered in our Brexit referendum to help promote and secure disunity in Europe – and yet the government you were part of refused to investigate suspected Brexit-related subversion, no doubt for fear it might make unwelcome and embarrassing discoveries.
What’s more, too many people in your party also sang Russia’s tune regarding Donald Trump. As we all know, Russia is suspected to have interfered in American politics and elections to help get Trump into the White House – and, sadly, too many of your Tory colleagues were prepared to support him. By doing so, they assisted a Putin-backed right-wing American maverick who undermined Western unity and stability.
And by pursuing a confrontational relationship with our fellow Europeans, you have also helped create ever-increasing divisions within our continent.
To confront the clear and present Russian threat, we need pan-European co-operation. But, over fisheries and over the controversial Australia/US/UK submarine deal, you succeeded in utterly souring our relationship with our nearest ally and neighbour, France.
And of course, your particularly extreme hard-line brand of Brexit has driven Scotland further towards independence and threatens the very future of the UK – Putin must think it’s Christmas every day.
To make matters worse, your party has reduced the size of the British Army by 26% over the past decade. Again, the Russian president must be celebrating.
Back in the 1930s, your Tory prime-ministerial predecessor, Neville Chamberlain and his fellow Tories naïvely believed that what happened in Europe was not a key concern of Britain’s. Again, with Brexit (especially your ultra-hard version of it), you have sought to turn our nation’s back on our continent.
Tragically, the reality is very different: Everything that happens on our continent ultimately affects us (the Napoleonic wars, World War I, World War II, etc) and any attempt by us to live in some sort of delusional ‘splendid isolation’ always comes back to bite us. Russia has quite clearly demonstrated its aggressive intent.
In 2008, it seized two parts of Georgia and still occupies them today. Then in 2014, it seized the Crimean peninsular from Ukraine – and then arranged for Russian-backed militias to seize substantial parts of eastern Ukraine.
One should add to all that the continuous Russian use against the West of cyber warfare and social media ‘bots’, their funding of far-right destabilisation across Europe, their targeted use of lethal poison and their constant deployment of warships and military aircraft in or near Allied territory.
Last but not least, Russia is a nuclear power with nuclear missiles pointing at London and other Western capitals – so we cannot afford for Russia to under-estimate Britain’s willingness to oppose aggression.
Helping Ukraine to deter Putin will keep both western/central Europeans (including Brits) and Russians safe. There must be no room for creating further European disunity and weakness.
We need to learn from history. Political actions which give aid and comfort to our geopolitical adversaries are never a good idea. We must not allow the 1930s to repeat themselves.”
David Keys
This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on https://www.hillingdonvision.com/
For further info on the arguments above, please see:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian-occupied_territories
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/21/russia-report-reveals-uk-government-failed-to-address-kremlin-interference-scottish-referendum-brexit
- https://www.csis.org/blogs/brexit-bits-bobs-and-blogs/did-russia-influence-brexit
- https://euobserver.com/investigations/151679
- https://www.americansecurityproject.org/russias-involvement-in-far-right-european-politics/
- https://fedtrust.co.uk/why-putin-wanted-johnson-to-win-brexit-and-end-up-in-no-10/
- https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/10/donald-trump-tory-britain-conservatives-us-president
- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/14/donald-trump-boris-johnson-kim-darroch-ambassador
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2021/02/12/the-royal-navy-keeps-shrinking-frigates-to-drop-by-three/?sh=fdfd4bc66217
- https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/may/25/how-britain-let-russia-hide-its-dirty-money
- https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-report-donors-boris-johnson-conservative-party-2020-7?r=US&IR=T
- https://euobserver.com/foreign/145989
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60095385
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Much as I agree with your highly factual and articulated article, a nice read too … I can’t help but feel and call me cynical if you want, that the UK doesn’t really give 2 hoots about the Ukraine! For instance it’s not in the EU and neither are we, furthermore it’s not a member of NATO either let’s also not forget that the US have leapfrogged us and gone straight to the EU for support! We’re simply not important anymore in their eyes and most of the world’s now, thanks to brexit as you so rightfully pointed out!
So why would the UK really be that bothered? They’ve made their bed based on pure self interest and must now reap the consequences, regardless of what belated support it may now offer? Of course it will be concerned, once Putin places the UK in his crosshairs, by then though it will probably be too late? I would then fully expect the UK to offer a partnership with Putin against the US for such is the nature of cowardly traitors like our current government!