London Touts “the Return of Geopolitics” and the British Empire

Leading the drumbeat for “permanent war” with Russia is the United Kingdom, which was made abundantly clear over the past ten days, even for the most skeptical. To begin with, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss stated openly what has long been policy, in a speech delivered on April 27 under the brazen title “The Return of Geopolitics”. In it, she laid out London’s intention to use the war in Ukraine — which it intends to ramp up — “to reboot, recast and remodel” the current international security and economic architecture along the lines of the British Empire. This, she outlined, is to be imposed through generalized sanctions and war, and enforced by a global military and economic NATO and associated ad hoc alliances, dubbed “a Network of Liberty.”

“The war in Ukraine is our war”, she stated, and victory for Kiev is “a strategic imperative”. Moreover, the same “tough stance” taken against Russia will also be applied to threats “emerging beyond Ukraine”. She went on to explain that that means in the Indo-Pacific, where China must be confronted, both economically and militarily (cf. below).

Ms.Truss insisted on the same occasion that the Western allies need to “push Russia out of the whole of Ukraine”, thus including Crimea. Asked about that the next day by Sky News, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace explicity agreed with her. And on April 26, the UK’s Armed Forces Minister, James Heappey, had told the BBC that it would be “completely legitimate” for Kiev to use the military equipment supplied by the British to carry out strikes on Russian territory – which is a huge provocation and confirms London’s status as a co-belligerent. Moscow’s Defense Ministry immediately responded that any such actions, which London is provoking Kiev to take, “will lead to an immediate and proportional response by Russia”.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of course, is eager to profile himself as the “leader of the free West”, visiting Kiev already in early April, and promising all kinds of weapons and military aid, in addition to the training of Ukrainian radicals that British special forces have been involved in for months. According to Tom Rogan, the national security writer for the Washington Examiner, it is commonly understood behind the scenes that the Ukrainian government views Johnson as its closest Western partner.

For example, he writes, Washington “has yet to provide anti-ship and vehicle anti-air systems” to Ukraine”, as it fears “doing so may provoke Russian President Vladimir Putin’s escalation elsewhere in Europe.” The British government, on the other hand, “is providing weapons of both types”.