Section: CapX (The United Kingdom)
How the West should punish Putin
Over the Christmas week, CapX is republishing its favourite pieces from the past year. You can find the full list here. As NATO scrambles to beef up its defences in the frontline states and Western diplomacy is humiliated in Syria, the New Cold War is no longer a fanciful book title. It is fact. As the author of that book — much-criticised when...
Tillerson is no Putin stooge – but he is a potential embarrassment
Rex Tillerson’s official nomination by Donald Trump to be the next secretary of state has led to predictable outcry about having the former Exxon CEO in the White House. But most of this commentary is as malodorously confused as smoke emitted by a Texan oil refinery. Just about the only person who hasn’t expressed an opinion is Nigel...
Putin will never restore Russia’s greatness
Twenty five years ago, on 8 December 1991, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine signed the Belavezha Accords, an agreement that dissolved the Soviet Union. Fewer than two weeks afterwards, leaders from all but one of the other Soviet states joined the Accords. Thus, the Cold War ended without so much as a shot being fired. A quarter of a...
What a Trump-Putin alliance means for Syrians
Throughout his election campaign, Donald Trump maintained that he wanted to improve US-Russian relations by building a closer relationship with Vladimir Putin. We cannot predict Trump’s exact actions, or how close his cooperation with Putin will be. But we know such a relationship could have potentially catastrophic effects for the rest of...
Norbert Hofer lost – so why are his party so happy?
“Grandma Gertrude” must be celebrating: Her favoured candidate, Alexander van der Bellen, will be the next Austrian president. And she herself will long be remembered for her moving video endorsement of him, which went viral within and beyond the little Alpine country of 8.7 million inhabitants. While it will of course be impossible to measure...
The far Right is far from finished in Austria
Across European capitals, there was a sigh of relief when Norbert Hofer conceded his defeat to Alexander Van der Bellen in Austria’s presidential election on Sunday. No wonder. This was not an ordinary election. If he had been successful – as some polls suggested and betting markets predicted – Mr Hofer would have been the first far-Right...
Britain can still make a difference in the world
The Foreign Secretary gave his first big speech this morning at Chatham House on Britain’s role in the world. Here is the transcript: There is a sense in which the British cemetery in Kabul is a monument to the human spirit. A triumph of hope over experience and as I stood there last Saturday on a chilly and foggy morning I felt the eerie...
Ukraine’s unhappy anniversary
Today’s Dignity and Freedom Day in Ukraine, marking the third anniversary of the Euromaidan protests, is likely to be a muted affair. Since the revolution in 2014 ousted President Victor Yanukovych, Ukraine has been dependent on the international community to get back on its feet. The IMF has stepped in to plug the hole left in the...
Putin’s Western dupes pose a grave threat to Europe
In 2014, Russia seized Crimea through military force. With this act, the Kremlin redrew the political map of Europe and upended the rules of the acknowledged international order. Despite the threat Russia’s revanchist policies pose to European stability and established international law, some European politicians, experts, and civic groups...
Trump’s bleak view of the world is just like Putin’s
The West, as we have known it for the past 60 years, died this week. On most issues — security, trade, climate change — Donald Trump has nothing in common with the people who run the other advanced industrialised countries. We are trying to expand and deepen the global trading system. He wants to clog it up with trade wars. We want multilateral...
