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‘Those he commands move only in command, nothing in love’. Shakespeare always gets it right. I remembered his words about Macbeth as I watched a shifty Vladimir Putin force the members of his Security Council to bob up and down as they tremulously affirmed their support for his wise policy on Ukraine. This enforced compliance
Liz Truss gave a striking statement in the Commons this afternoon on the action the government was taking to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It contrasted to the approach taken by some of her colleagues, because it contained a number of admissions about the impact of this action. For the first time, the
What help will the government offer to Ukrainians seeking shelter in the UK? While the Prime Minister has been talking up his support for the Ukrainian people, government actions on offering refuge to those fleeing the country has so far been limited. After immigration minister Kevin Foster suggested on social media that those escaping Putin’s invasion
As war between Ukraine and Russia continues to rage, closer to home a very different conflict has been playing out at Daily Mail HQ over on High Street Kensington. Mr S has chronicled the recent comings and goings in the hallowed halls of Northcliffe House, as Paul Dacre, Geordie Greig and Martin Clarke have all found themselves in
The striking thing about the financial sanctions on Russia is not their severity, but just how many countries are joining in the effort. Switzerland has today announced that it will adopt the EU sanctions on Russia, particularly significant because it has been the biggest recipient of private transfers by Russians in recent years. The fact that
‘There are more important things in life than football,’ said the Polish football federation as they announced their intention to boycott a crunch World Cup qualifier against Russia next month. Sweden and the Czech Republic, who meet on the same night for the right to meet the winner of that now severely at-risk tie, have also indicated their
On 3 April Hungarians will have their ninth set of free parliamentary elections since the collapse of the communist dictatorship in 1989. The winner is likely to be Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition, which is leading in five of the six major polls. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will not change that dynamic even though
Looks like this war isn’t going terribly well for Vladimir Putin. The Russian dictator now finds himself something of an international pariah, with barely half-a-dozen countries lining up behind him. By contrast, the charmless Kremlin autocrat seems to have done what no-one thought possible: unite Europe in opposition, drag Germany from its Ostpolitik slumber and even force neutral Sweden to
Is Ukraine winning its war against Russia? Watching the conflict through Twitter or broadcast media, you’d be forgiven for thinking so. Despite its overwhelming military superiority, Russia is taking casualties, momentum is stalling, and a succession of stirring stories – Ukrainian soldiers telling Russian troops to go ‘fuck yourself’ and ordinary Ukrainians rising up to stand in
Immigration used to be the most-discussed issue in British politics. It gets less attention these days, for reasons too varied to go into here. But even though some voters have been focused on other things, there have been significant changes. Some have been good. Others bad. And the bad ones are about to collide with
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Over the weekend, the West unveiled further measures to punish Russia for invading Ukraine. The European Union said it would put limits on the Russian central bank’s ability to access its reserve of foreign currency, Finland blocked Russia from its airspace, and Germany pledged that it would increase its defence spending to 2 per cent.
‘We are witnessing a turning point… the world is not the same anymore,’ said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday in a speech that will be remembered as the country’s biggest military shift since 1945. Staring down the barrel of Putin’s gun, Scholz announced a massive and immediate cash injection for Germany’s armed forces as well
As protests continue against the war in Ukraine, and as Russian casualties mount, the Kremlin has launched the predictable two-prong propaganda campaign. This is made up of a barrage of nonsensical rationalisations of Russia’s invasion and legal and technological measures to try and keep honest reporting at bay. Much like the soldiers engaged in the invasion,
It’s four days since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and there’s no sign of any surrender by those opposing Putin’s forces. By common consensus, the spirited fightback by both Ukrainian troops and their citizens has impressed and surprised many across Europe. It comes amid reports that the Kremlin has misjudged the extent to which Ukrainians
I think Putin will have been surprised. I mean: I was surprised. Weren’t you? Not, necessarily, that Ukraine should have been resisting as valiantly as it is; nor even that Russia’s supposedly unstoppable war machine should have found itself out of petrol on a chilly highway from which the road signs have been removed. But
As Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops onto Ukrainian soil, the initial Western response was swift, if not underwhelming. Trade in Russian debt was curbed and a handful of oligarchs have had their assets frozen. Snarky tweets from an American embassy safely withdrawn to Poland, were also sent. While Russia rolled its tanks across the border, European cities lit
For weeks, discussion about partygate dominated Britain’s newspapers. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put paid to that. But Boris Johnson is mistaken if he thinks he has been saved. Instead Keir Starmer is likely to be the biggest beneficiary of the Ukrainian crisis. This might come as a surprise to some. After all, history suggests that
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s announcement that Germany is sending weapons and missiles to Ukraine – and is increasing its defence budget to two per cent – marks the mother of all U-turns. But it comes too late, too late for Ukraine. Years of Germany allowing its military to atrophy cannot be done overnight. Compromised by her cosy relations with the tyrant in
Boris Johnson has announced that the UK will impose personal sanctions on Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov – and is as drawing up a ‘hit list’ of Russian oligarchs to target. ‘We have to make it deeply painful for the oligarchs that support the Putin regime,’ said foreign secretary Liz Truss. ‘There
Pushing Russia out of Swift, the international bank transfer system, has long been spoken of as one of the most forceful economic moves the West can make. Only last week Joe Biden suggested the idea was off the table as the Europeans did not want to do it, with so many countries dependent on Russia’s
Away from Ukraine, it was all kicking off elsewhere in London yesterday. As the England rugby team was labouring to a 23-19 win against their Welsh rivals over at Twickenham, a similar fixture was taking place a few miles down the road at the nearby Richmond RFC ground. For, as per Six Nations tradition, a Westminster parliamentary team
Liz Truss – War in Ukraine could last ‘a number of years’ The Foreign Secretary conducted the government’s media round this morning, in the week which saw Russia invade Ukraine. The capital of Kiev remains under siege from Russian forces, and, as of this morning, the country’s second largest city Kharkiv is also seeing fighting
In yet another sign of how dramatically Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has changed Europe’s attitude to both Russia and security, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has just announced that the country will spend two percent of GDP on defence by 2024. This is a significant move, Germany currently only spends about 1.5 percent on defence,
So that’s what leadership looks like. It looks like Volodymyr Zelensky. It looks like a president staying put in his capital city despite coming under attack from one of the largest military forces on Earth. It looks like a tired but proud man rallying his people to defend their nation from foreign onslaught. It looks
There is not much more that Britain can do for Ukraine. We have done more than most: sent 2,000 anti-tank missiles and stationed troops in eastern Europe to help other allies. But as thousands flee Kiev – not knowing if Putin will turn it into the next Grozny – there is something immediate and profound
It is striking how little enthusiasm there is in Russia for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine – but for some, it has become an opportunity to steal a march and curry favour with the boss. Thousands of Russians have been out on the streets protesting against the conflict, despite the heavy-handed and unstinting response of the security
Thursday marked the beginning of a new era in European politics. Nowhere has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine been met with greater fear and trepidation than in central and eastern Europe, a region all too familiar with ‘brotherly help’ in the form of military occupation by a looming eastern power. It may be a new era
‘The Russian invasion marks a turning point,’ said Olaf Scholz on Saturday as he announced that Germany would break its long-standing principle of not sending arms into conflict zones by delivering 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles to Ukraine. ‘It is our duty to support Ukraine to the best of our ability,’ he explained.
Russia’s invasion is not just an effort to retake what was once part of the Soviet Union. It is a push to use military force to overturn the post-Cold War settlement. In fact, the invasion cannot be understood without first understanding what that settlement looked like and why Russia wants to overturn it, despite the
When I was a little girl, my mum told me that I shouldn’t use the word ‘woman’ – but rather ‘lady.’ ‘Woman’ was just too visceral to her, whereas a ‘lady’ might well be a doll. But by adolescence my shoplifted copy of The Female Eunuch and Helen Reddy bawling ‘I am strong, I am
The word ‘Chernobyl’ sends a shiver down the spine of most Europeans, and with good reason: it was the site of the world’s worst nuclear catastrophe. Now it has been seized by Russian forces in their ongoing invasion of Ukraine. So what is Putin up to? And does the world need to worry? The simple answer is
With every hour that Kiev holds out, the geopolitics of Europe changes more. Germany, which so values its prohibition on sending weapons into warzones, has just announced that it is sending 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger missiles to support the Ukrainian forces. I expect that defence spending will rise considerably in the coming years
If Russia is expelled from the Swift banking messaging system, that would be serious economic warfare against Putin. Because Thursday’s decision by the US Treasury to make it almost impossible for Russia’s two biggest banks, VTB and Sperbank, to do any business with US institutions or use US infrastructure to process dollar payments will potentially