I don’t know whether Sir Keir Starmer is right to offer to station British troops in Ukraine (Metro, Tue) but I do know that if we want to see a lasting peace in eastern Europe, we have to understand and strive to accommodate all sides of the argument.
As the USA and Russia convene talks in Saudi Arabia hoping to bring to an end the Russia/Ukraine war, President Macron invites European leaders to a summit to discuss security spending and the part they can play in the future of Ukraine.
The news that Sir Keir Starmer wants to send British troops to Ukraine as ‘peacekeepers’ brought to mind the words of the old music hall song, which gave rise to the term jingoism.
The UK Prime Minister has said he is prepared to commit troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, as has the CDU party defence spokesperson in Germany.
And with democracy in neighbouring states leading to new governments unlikely to ally with them, the Russians see two options to guarantee a buffer zone against this threat – either maintain allied dictatorships in satellite states (as in Belarus and central Asia) or expand their own borders into sympathetic areas.
