Just before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping announced a ‘friendship without limits’. The phrase seems to apply equally well to Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Has Trump ever breathed a word of serious criticism of Putin, questioned his democratic mandate, challenged his right to invade an independent country, condemned his kidnapping of children? Before his inauguration, Trump stepped in on behalf of ‘the hostages who are being held so violently, inhumanely and against their will in the Middle East’. He warned Hamas that there ‘would be ALL HELL to PAY’ for the perpetrators and that they must ‘RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW!’. But although Ukraine is, like Israel, the victim of unjustified attack and terrible atrocities, in Trump’s mind Volodymyr Zelensky is the dictator and warmonger. He is trying, in effect, to foment a coup against him. At the UN Security Council last week, resolution 2774 avoided all condemnation of Russia and any assertion of Ukraine’s sovereignty, calling merely for a ‘swift end to the conflict’ and ‘a lasting peace’. The United States and China voted with Russia. Britain, France, Denmark and Greece – all Nato members – abstained. Thus is western diplomacy being dismantled.
What else might follow? Britain is a member of the Anglosphere’s Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance. Can we be confident that our secrets will not be shared with Russia by the leading pair of eyes? Britain is also a nuclear power. But our nuclear posture and the weapons themselves are constructed round American cooperation, know-how and trust. Between them, America, Russia and – though way behind – China have more than 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
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