Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s message to President Vladimir Putin is that the Russian President can still choose to prevent conflict and preserve peace; dialogue is the only way forward.
London: Boris Johnson has stayed firmly in No10 despite all the recent hullabaloo; that the Prime Minister “survived” up to the recess break and parliament resumes on Monday 21, suggests Johnson has reinvented his modus operandi with a mini reshuffle of ministers and whips, and he has made some changes in how No10 operates and communicates. Jacob Rees-Mogg has the responsibility for coordinating the opportunities provided by leaving the EU and for salvaging Brexit’s reputation; almost 50 years of political, bureaucratic, legislative and economic integration have not been smooth to untangle, specifically with the interruption of Covid-19, there are reforms in waiting but no transparency yet. The Northern Ireland Protocol is just one example of unfinished business that Liz Truss has undertaken to resolve by the end of this month, to avoid disruption in the run-up to and after the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in May.
Following Home Secretary Priti Patel’s talk on ‘security’ in November 2021, Nile Gardiner Director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation hosted Oliver Dowden the Conservative Party Chairman in Washington DC. Dowden said Reagan and Thatcher have shaped his values and politics, essentially he warned of democratic complacency in the face of danger, specifically mentioning examples originating from China and Russia. Dowden has an objection to the woke warriors inimicable policies that he compared to “a form of Maoism” that have invaded “universities, schools, government bodies, corporations, social science faculties and the hard sciences.” He said this dangerous groupthink is threatening national democracy and patriotism in the US and UK. This was a significant speech about freedoms and a sign that the Johnson government still retains some conservative courage.
Russia has replaced Covid-19 as the threat du jour, although the UK has left the EU Global Britain seems to be leading European security arrangements and assisting Ukraine by supplying thousands of anti-tank missiles. Certainly, Ukraine has diverted attention from the Indo-Pacific and the Beijing Olympics, where Olympians dare not complain about accommodation, food, transport, and discrimination.
Boris Johnson visited RAF Waddington on Thursday, as he stepped out of the cockpit of a Typhoon fighter jet Johnson said “Today, as I’m sure you’ve already picked up, a kindergarten was shelled in what we are taking to be – well, we know – was a false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians, designed to create a pretext, a spurious provocation for Russian action.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence released a video with captions saying they have seen no evidence that Russian forces are withdrawing from the Ukrainian border regions. And that Russia retains a significant military presence that can conduct an invasion without further warning. UK intelligence also shows abnormal Russian naval activity in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea and Mediterrranean. The video suggests an invasion could happen within days, the MOD published a map demonstrating Russia’s possible axis of invasion. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s message to President Vladimir Putin is that the Russian president can still choose to prevent conflict and preserve peace, dialogue is the only way forward.
Ukraine will not be the elephant in the room at the Munich Security Conference 2022, there may not be total agreement between member states but the agenda suggests it will be centre stage. Russia is not sending a delegation for the first time in 20 years.
There are many conversations scheduled about European Security, there are individual sessions spotlighting Germany, the US, China, and the UK’s roles on the international stage with separate appearances from Olaf Scholz, Kamala Harris, Wang Yi, and Boris Johnson, all moderated by Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference. Eyecatching headings on the agenda include Adapting NATO’s Nuclear Posture, Semiconductor Supply Chain Resilience, Fighting Kleptocracy and Corruption, a Conversation with the Belarusian Opposition Leader, Defending Democracy in the Digital Age, Regional Security in the Arctic, Aligning International Climate Diplomacy, Increasing Pandemic Preparedness, the Future of the JCPOA, Regional Order and Security in the Indo-Pacific. These are some of the official sessions, side meetings between all the Ministers and other attendees will in time be more revealing.