Nick Cohen talks to author, intelligence expert & one-time career diplomat Arthur Snell
Donald Trump appears to have unequivocally sided with Vladamir Putin's malignant regime in Moscow and has made clear his intention to fuck over Ukraine, Europe and the UK - jeopardising the security of all and making World War 3 much more likely? How can the West react?
It's not too late for Europe & Canada to re-tool but action to boost defence spending needs to happen straight away.
A Europe in-denial caught on the hop - Trump pulls the security blanket despite warnings
Arthur, a one-time career diplomat with the Foreign Office, said the UK was nervous about how EU membership where it impacted the UK's relationship with the U.S before Brexit. This was before the UK was eventually dragged out of the EU together - with Brexiter nutjobs insisting on the hardest separation terms possible. Now brexiter dreams of a transatlantic 'Anglo-sphere' love-in that would replace EU membership has collapsed.
Arthur says, "I would say we were warned. Now, what I think what we weren't warned about was we were warned that America was losing interest in Europe, becoming frustrated with the Europeans unwillingness to spend money to defend themselves, and also America realising it had its own fish to fry, if you like, in the Pacific.
"Of course, what we were not warned, because it really is the most mind boggling aspect of all of this, is having an American president who basically sides with Russia on the big geopolitical issues when it pertains to Europe, and that is the, the sort of utterly horrifying element of, of what's unfolded really in the last few days."
Need to act now in Europe's defence before it's too late
Nick asks Arthur how he'd be advising Sir Keir Starmer. Arthur says, "I would be advising is that we need to rip up a lot of the basic tenets that underpin our defence and security structures and think very hard and very fast about European security as a single entity. And this isn't about the EU or about NATO. It's about a continent that's called Europe that is geographically pretty distinct."
Read all about it
Arthur Snell's substack column is Not all doom & his regular inciteful podcast is Behind the Lines. Arthur's first not fiction book is How Britain Broke the World: War, Greed and Blunders from Kosovo to Afghanistan, 1997-2022 .
Nick Cohen's @NickCohen4 latest Substack column Writing from London on politics and culture from the UK and beyond. Read Nick's latest column, Can Europe resist Trump's gangsterism? Does it have the willpower to try?
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