Britain Leading the War Drive Against Russia

Jan. 24, 2022 (EIRNS)—In a Jan. 23 article otherwise devoted to a “wag the dog” scenario in which U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson might be seeking to use the Ukraine confrontation to distract attention from his own political problems, the New York Times highlights the British role in driving the war danger forward. “Britain is moving on multiple fronts,” the Times reports. “It is preparing legislation that would enable it to impose sanctions if Mr. Putin carries out an invasion. It dispatched senior ministers to other NATO countries menaced by Russia. And it has begun engaging directly with Moscow, with reports that its foreign and defense secretaries plan to meet their Russian counterparts in the coming weeks.”

“Whether Britain is in the EU or out of the EU, it is always going to push back on Russian bad behavior,” Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the United States (and before that, Ambassador to the UN), said in an interview. “Where the Russians are concerned, you’ll always find the U.K. at the forward end of the spectrum.”

But for all the screaming and hollering coming out of London, the U.K. is unlikely to send its military to Ukraine (better to get the U.S. to do their fighting for them). British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab made this claim in an interview with Sky News yesterday. “I think it is extremely unlikely that we will send military personnel. But I can say that we willingly participate in training programs to support the Ukrainians,” he said, reported Ukraine’s 112.International. “It is noted that Britain will support Ukraine together with the international community and NATO allies,” 112.International reported further, and that, “Raab also warned Russia of serious consequences in case of aggression.”