Could I be on the National Trust Council?

The end of the Cold War offered the former communist countries the chance to live a western way of life. But it also brought back what was known as the ‘nationalities question’, so long suppressed by Soviet power. We in Britain think little about this. We can easily see why the slowdown in western arms supplies threatens Ukraine, but not why it spreads such confusion among Nato allies. It is because any retreat by the United States forces Europeans to make frightening choices. The 20th century showed that European powers were unable to resolve their own conflicts without American help. Post-war, the European Community did its bit, but the real protector was America, via Nato. Now it might not be. Putin’s Russia could exploit this – a coup in Moldava, perhaps; a declaration of independence by a Russian-speaking town in the Baltic states – to advance his imperial mission. Who would then lead the resistance? Economic and geographical logic says Germany, but Germany is the most confused of the lot. Under the Merkel doctrines, Germany thought it could flourish by eschewing hard power, leaving its defence and its energy supply at the mercy of Russia. Now it is clear that Russia is utterly unmerciful. That telephone conversation of German generals which Russia hacked shows the paralysing fear of Chancellor Scholz that if he lets Ukraine have Taurus missiles, it might fire them at Moscow, or at least that Putin would think (or affect to think) that it might, and would therefore launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack. Scholz’s detestation of war in Europe does him credit, but seems to blind him to the fact that one is already in progress.