There is no future in trying to predict future crises in world politics. There is no pattern – except that crises always happen over Christmas or bank holiday weekends, in the same way land battles always take place just on the join between three maps. But if prediction is impossible, anticipation certainly is not. Crises will …
Continue reading ‘2020 In Defence: What Will Happen This Year?’ by Michael Clarke
21st January 2020 I was quoted in The Economist this week in relation to Minister of Defence Ben Wallace’s comments that ‘the assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really not where we are going to be’ – thus exposing some gaping holes in our ‘full …
Continue reading ‘London Takes Washington Heat’ by Michael Clarke
General Sir Graeme Lamb argues that NATO is facing a more fundamental choice than is often publicly acknowledged. ‘The choice’ he says, ‘is not to dumb NATO down, nor to attempt to do considerably more with even less. It is to fundamentally re-structure the alliance or disband it. A less than half way house, promising …
“For many of us who operate global enterprises out of the United States, we have long looked to London as a gateway to Europe. With the recent election confirming that Boris Johnson will lead Britain out of Europe early in 2020, that once dependable pathway will be blocked and the future of American business' relationship …
7 January 2019, Letters to the Editor, The Times. Sir, Your leading article (Jan 6) is right that London must urge restraint in the Iran crisis. But in this case the government’s response will be judged beyond the platitudinous. This is Boris Johnson’s first foreign crisis as prime minister and it could hardly be more …
Continue reading Letters to the Editor: Statesmanship and the crisis over Iran
In Sitrep's Review of the Year, Professor Paul Rogers, Professor Michael Clarke and BFBS Defence Analyst Christopher Lee discuss how climate change will impact the military landscape and Britain's standing among the world powers. See here for the full article in Forces News or read it below. 'Climate Change: Are Global Threats An Opportunity To Put …
5th January 2020, The Sunday Times, by Michael Clarke. The US drone strike on Qassem Soleimani was a shock tactic. It shocked the Iranians and the leaders of their proxy militia forces in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. It shocked outside powers such as Russia and Turkey; and it left America’s western allies — yet again …
So we all get a break over Christmas, take a deep breath, and then throw ourselves into ‘Getting Brexit Done’. But ‘Getting Brexit Done’ really means getting it started, and the reality of it will likely be sobering. The principle of Brexit intrinsically strains the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But that is …
Continue reading ‘Get Brexit Done’ will be won or lost in the UK’s ‘fifth kingdom’, by Helen Ramscar
Tipping Point 