Not The Worst Case

I have the greatest respect for our National Security Advisors, but their cautious political advice can too often sound like defeatism and encourage authoritarian regimes such as Putin’s Russia. The latest pronouncement from Lord Ricketts on BBC 5 Live Breakfast on 15 March was straight out of the appeasement manual: “At worst case, that could land up with European forces fighting the Russians. Certainly nobody wants that.”

I can think of several worse case scenarios. For example, Putin takes over Ukraine and uses that as a launch-pad to invade another European country with America standing-by in isolation. I can imagine other worse cases that stem from the West not committing troops to ensure Ukraine’s survival as a sovereign state.

It may well be that there is no such thing as a military solution, but at this moment in time the only language that Putin understands is military capability. That capability is partly made up of tangible forces and partly of mental willpower. There has to be a political acceptance that to preserve our freedoms and deter Russian aggression, we HAVE to deploy our troops with well-considered rules of engagement and back that up with a plan for total commitment.

Government communicators should then support that decision, rather than undermine it.