Russian aggression means western Europe must have a much-needed debate about defence optionsFrom now until the general election in May, David Cameron has few if any foreign travel plans. Following his visit to Barack Obama in the White House a month ago, the stay-at-home prime minister intends to maximise his time electioneering in this country, making only the briefest of brief foreign forays to essential European summits. What Mr Cameron seems to be running is not so much a front-porch campaign – the American tactic of staying at home and waiting for supporters to come cap in hand – as a back-yard campaign, in which he ostentatiously busies himself with local bread-and-butter issues in a venue near you, rather than bothering himself with larger global questions.In general election year, this has an obvious logic. But it embodies something very disturbing – Mr Cameron’s willingness to pretend drawbridges can be pulled up against the world. This pretence – not the same thing as the delusion that Britain could or should solve the world’s problems – has been marked in the Ukraine crisis and in the Greek debt row, on which eurozone ministers were locked in talks on Friday. Two weeks ago Sir Richard Shirreff pointedly asked: “Where is Britain?” This week the issue resurfaced in the House of Lords EU committee’s report on Russia and Ukraine, with equally quotable comments that Britain and Europe have been “sleepwalking into this crisis”, have misread the situation “catastrophically” and that the UK has not been “as active or as visible as it could have been”. Continue reading...
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