Ever since at least the French revolution it has been in Britain’s strategic interest to ensure no single power or group of powers dominates the continent of Europe. Britain’s motives were always military and, as an international trading nation, commercial. Today the Russian invasion of Ukraine presents the UK with a strategic opportunity to stymie Moscow’s aggression and to mollify the EU’s cussedness over the Brexit settlement.
Britain’s stock has risen amongst EU members, just as France and Germany’s has declined
Britain’s forward military stance on defending Ukraine against Russia is in the same vein as her defence of Belgium in 1914 or Poland in 1939. Britain was a pioneer, with the US, in training Ukrainian troops before 24 February 2022; in insisting that Moscow would invade, despite European scepticism; and in galvanising European support ever since. London’s fear that a successful invasion by Moscow would be the thin end of the wedge, with the Baltic states and perhaps the Balkans next, is now widely shared across Europe.
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