Section: Prospect (The United Kingdom)
Former MI6 head: Putin could get more dangerous
Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow. © Pavel Golovkin/AP/Press Association Images Richard Dearlove, the former head of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, has said that the West is failing to put sufficient pressure on Vladimir Putin over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In comments made...
Big Question: what should our armed forces do?
An RAF Chinook helicopter flies over London during a commemoration service for the Afghanistan conflict. © Carl Court/AP/Press Association Images A debate has opened up in recent weeks about the amount Britain’s government should spend on defence—Conservative MPs and members of the British and American armed forces have queued up to demand...
Nemtsov murder: what will the UK do next?
Protestors march with posters reading “propaganda kills, fight!” near the place where Boris Nemtsov was gunned down on Friday. ©Denis Tyrin/AP/Press Association Images Government thinking on what to do about Ukraine has got much darker in just a few weeks, and not only because of the murder of dissident Boris Nemtsov in Moscow last Friday. Three...
Nemtsov murder: the beginning of a dark era for Russia
A mourner pays their respects to murdered Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov by laying flowers on the bridge over the Moscow river. © ZINA HUDIAKOVA/NEWZULU/PA Images On a cold evening on 27 February, Russia’s former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov was walking across a bridge in central Moscow close to the Kremlin when he was...
Is Vladimir Putin Nato’s salvation?
Putin attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow. © Pavel Golovkin/AP/Press Association Images The most powerful impression I took from chairing the opening session of Chatham House’s Security and Defence Conference yesterday is that Russia’s President has injected a new sense of purpose into Nato....
World Thinkers 2015: Anne Applebaum
© Anne Applebaum As the crisis in Ukraine has unfolded Anne Applebaum, from her home in Warsaw, has proven an insightful Pulitzer-winning critic, both of Vladimir Putin and of the west’s response. After the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, she wrote that if Putin did not denounce the separatist rebels in Ukraine, “then we...
Big Question: does Ukraine have a chance to rebuild?
Newly mobilized Ukrainian soldiers go to position during military drills in base Desna 100km north from Kiev. © Efrem Lukatsky/AP/Press Association Images This week, following marathon talks peppered with disagreements, walkouts, and at least one furious pencil-snapping, a tentative ceasefire has been agreed in Ukraine. In what some observers are...
Ignore the irritants: the US and China are getting on well
A protestor calling for Tibet’s freedom outside the White House. © Carolyn Kaster/AP/Press Association Images President Barack Obama will make his first joint public appearance with the Dalai Lama today at the US National Prayer Breakfast on religious freedom, and may meet privately with him afterward. At a time when US-China relations are...
Defence cuts: should we fight our wars at home or away?
French army soldiers patrol on the Paris metro in the wake of this month’s attacks. © Orban Thierry/ABACA/Press Association Images For those unaware that the Ministry of Defence owns 15 golf courses, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon’s speech this week would have made interesting reading. For those looking for clues to the themes of...
What does Putin want?
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin addresses more than 1,000 journalists at his annual press conference in Moscow, December 2013. © Sasha Mordovets/Contributor/Getty Images What does Vladimir Putin want? Russia’s President’s annexation of Crimea in the spring, and continued aggression since then, have made this one of the...
