by Helen Ramscar Recent analysis of the rollout of Sputnik V has been called ‘moral panic’ and a ‘Western blunder’.[1] It is worth reminding that reasonable concern over the distribution of Sputnik V has been centred around the safety of human lives. For Russia has been distributing Sputnik V to countries worldwide before the vaccine’s …
The UK now faces a moment of reckoning, writes Michael Clarke. For the full article published on Forces.net on 14 March 2021, see: https://www.forces.net/news/hard-pounding-integrated-review-documents-are-about-arrive.
Recent British journal publications on Sputnik V have rocketed Russia’s vaccine diplomacy. The geopolitical ramifications of its wider rollout could be troubling. This article by Helen Ramscar was first published by RUSI on 12 March 2021 and can be accessed here too. The inclusion of Sputnik V, Moscow’s Covid-19 vaccine, in The Lancet on 2 February 2021 …
‘National Strategy’ is about making big decisions and the Prime Minister is set to launch a series of them. We are promised they will be big decisions –‘eye-popping’ said one insider. Some observers are suspicious that there will be too much ‘Brexit ideology’ behind them; others argue that they are long-overdue. Michael Clarke begins a …
Continue reading The Integrated Review: Does Boris Have the Courage to be Boring?
When all the different parts of the Integrated Review are finally published, they will point towards the creation of a ‘New Model Army’ for Britain. But will it be a model in the ‘exemplar’ sense; or more like the ‘Airfix’ sense? Michael Clarke describes the challenge. Cromwell’s New Model Army only lasted 15 years, from …
Continue reading Cromwell’s Ghost: Will the Integrated Review Give Britain a New Model Army?
By Helen Ramscar. 16 February 2021. Russia’s vaccine was given an international boost by its recent review in The Lancet, which supports the view that Sputnik V was at least as safe and effective as the leading US and UK vaccines. Given Russia’s reputation for dispatching deadly poisons – a signature Russian GRU calling card …
General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, delivered a speech this week that laid down some big challenges; to our adversaries, our allies and to our own Government. Any CDS can be relied on to ‘stay on message’ and in this case he certainly did. But he was also holding up a mirror …
Continue reading Reflecting Reality: The Chief of Defence Staff’s Vision for Security
By @MikeClarke2020s The Chancellor and the Treasury pulled a fast one on the Prime Minister and No.10 when it cancelled the three-year Comprehensive Spending Review in favour of last week’s interim one-year settlement. It looked as if the Ministry of Defence would be the big loser. And the famous ‘Integrated Review’ of all Britain’s external …
Continue reading Cash Before Strategy: Defence in the Integrated Review
By @HelenRamscar Encouraging data released from the Pfizer[1], Moderna[2] and Oxford University[3] vaccine trials have hit headlines worldwide. Yet indications of a new SARS-CoV-2 variant named 20A.EU1[4], which originated in Spanish farms and spread successfully across Europe, followed by confirmation that a SARS-CoV-2 mutation found in mink in Denmark has transmitted into humans in no fewer …
Continue reading As The Virus Mutates, So Will Vaccine Nationalism
Letter to the Editor, published online on 19 November 2020, can be found here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/times-letters-boris-johnson-s-green-industrial-revolution-g76s2przl
Tipping Point 
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