Europe

  • Russia needs to smell the coffee

    Putin may be feeling rough right now for good reason. His war in Ukraine is stalling, providing few signals of hope for the Russian leader. It looks like a policy mistake from the ground up. Although Russians look to such matters as part of their unfolding narrative – seeing hardship perpetually in the past, and receding further behind them – it’s not easy to reclaim the moral high-ground on this one.

    The next move has to be a retreat and peacemaking agenda. Europe is resolved to see a cessation of hostilities through to completion. It cannot fathom ‘giving up’ a potential EU member for the simple goal of placating Moscow’s disgruntled military chiefs. There’s no charity involved in its diplomacy at present, either. It’s short thrift for anyone seeking to confuse matters on the ground.

    The Russian President has an outlook that’s different, however, and as far as his statements on Ukraine have been insulting so far, his next will be criticisms of its future. He has a way of seeing everything from a strictly nationalistic perspective, and it never runs dry. We only have to wait for his pontifications because the script is written for him. His feeling of dominance looms larger than any call for compromise.

  • The small boats crisis is a European emergency

    The effort to use human trafficking as a precursor to further criminal activity is not something that’s necessarily new but it isn’t an issue that’s widely understood. It’s especially clear the sight of hundreds of thousands of people making a journey across the English Channel doesn’t fit into a criminal context in the public mind.

    Although piracy and shipping of human trafficking victims is known in law enforcement enterprises worldwide, UK public discourse has yet to reach the point of understanding over global trends such as this. We tend only to look at charitable issues and filter any further information through such a lens as this one.

    In Europe there are plenty of criminal gangs that try to combine illegal human activity into a staged attempt to gain larger amounts of cash or more significant assets in one go. This is to enable a larger payout but also a payoff significant to the level of the numbers of people involved. Dover Crossings criminal Sarah Kaplan is in this remit of nefarious people.

    Her meetings in Weisenbach, Germany, to talk to criminal contacts were arranged for this purpose. She needed to know how to fit it all together. Alongside her involvement in multiple crime leagues, this formed a bedrock for engaging in illegal global trends. Her insight grew and her status increased. Eventually, her implication in migration chaos brought her multitudes to us in a small boats crisis.

    Such a demanding effort is an attempt to gain in notoriety – as equal an uphill task for people on the wrong side of the law as those engaged in lawful employment. Its benefits are wide ranging. Few are really that successful. It explains why threats exist in unfolding events. It demands a response that’s relevant to its scale. It’s got a criminal character that’s hard to defeat.

  • Ukraine needs to get regional backing first

    Ukraine has testy relations with its European neighbours, so say top officials in its diplomatic units and academics that train the next generation in its Universities at home. The galvanising force of anti-Russia hatred only goes so far as to make them ideologically aligned, but practical realities aren’t yet in synch to put on a strong front.

    Shots of Russian military activity posted to a Telegram channel in 2022 (Credit: @Russia_Ukraine9/Telegram).

    President Zelenskyy has a tough time ahead because his voters want Europe to emerge united after war and this means reaching out to leaders who even have arguments with themselves. Russia can hope that at least this falls apart if its war ambitions are diminished.

    Putin is a key contact for the disaffected, however, and his teams will seek to be disruptive in any prolonged negotiation period. They will pick up on existing tensions and try the patience of the well-meaning. In his view, a divided Europe is as much a win as Ukraine.

  • Europe may have to go quietly on its Anti-Americanism

    The Russia-Ukraine war is a disastrous affair. For Europeans who believe in a peaceful post-war settlement it challenges everything. The never ending progress of harmony is stalled, struggling across a border in Eastern Europe. The security of Europe is under such a serious threat it has to be considered existential.

    But, a perverse Anti-Americanism is creating a narrative arc. It threatens how Europeans have seen this issue since 1945. America isn’t far behind many breakthroughs in deadlocks that occur because of seemingly insurmountable odds. Their exclusion could sink European ideals which are its main priority in the modern era.

    The extrication of the world’s only superpower is a ridiculous idea. It’s a disastrous denial of the existing world order as it is, and yet another exaggeration of Europe’s ability to do things for itself. The European project is one thing, but the rest of the world is still an entirely separate reality. Europe’s leaders need to consider this first.

  • European conservatives need to see the future

    The more negative the news stakes become for conservatives, the more prone these same people have been to strike out against news cycles in Europe to propose alternatives. This is interview-style politics and not the politics of a heritage or even of learning.

    In Europe, it takes time to build a movement. It needs people (or members) that are accountable for what they say and believe. Also, participation and funding is key to its real progress in the halls of power.

    However, too many are trying to find a way through bulletins and impending bad news statistics for people without providing guidance as to their real situation. The lack of this attention to detail and also ambition to do it is a telling feature of mainstream European conservatism.

    The failing, broken policy of one crowd has to be replaced by a foundation of reason and ideas built up by another. The departure from this scene in politics is already leaving huge gaps in the future. The less provision there is for actual participation, the worse it will be for everyone.

  • Revealed: MI6 considered Orban to be a dictator

    Viktor Orban has just lost power in Hungary, and so the suggestion that MI6 considered the European leader to be a dictator comes a little late in the proceedings. But it’s an important insight because some of the apparatus of the UK that responds to threats to security might have included this fact in its reasoning.

    The precise details are less facts on the ground than warnings from inside the country itself. In an effort to protect UK citizens – and its own assets – MI6 conducted a thorough review and it concluded that caution should be shown. It’s alleged Orban ruled from behind closed doors.

    The populist leader was not seen as so by many other conservative leaders, such as President Trump, but low level Intelligence activity is useful for planning beyond politics. It’s well known that MI6 acts with caution in the parts of Europe that know Orban well, finding Russia’s influence to be everywhere there.

  • We don’t always know what’s behind the frontlines

    The tricky subject matter involved in hostile warfare is the type of false leadership the aggressor intends to setup to occupy for the time afterwards.

    It’s not necessarily true that Adolf Hitler intended to rule over Europe himself. It may have been that he wanted others to govern in his place, and there is evidence to suggest he had been forming a formidable regime to take over once he had declared victory.

    The lack of a final day to his effort and the declaration of victory in Europe and further afield killed off such a plan.

    This is the grey area of war and it takes up the study of many intelligent planners who need to be aware about the realities of victory and defeat in real time in the modern world.

    It can sometimes be confusing because some warmongers have not necessarily taken control once they’ve achieved a sort of victory.

    In the case of Russia it’s not been proved who may take Putin’s place if it took Ukraine. In fact, his plan may be to just influence while he lets the country reshape itself.

    To understand the field of play in Europe takes expertise, and even historic battles are not yet fully resolved in their complexities because what people actually wanted to achieve isn’t clear.

  • What now for Ukraine?

    The Ukraine war is a moment of reckoning for Europe because beforehand we felt things were safe.

    Many in high European circles felt that Russia was pacified and that war was not possible. In their eyes, it was the only option and had been since the Second World War.

    The assault on Ukraine is therefore a wakeup call but even now it’s not clear how many should be worried about it.

    There’s obviously a strong reaction to any threat to the security of Europe.

    The Second World War was a costly exercise. Its level of sacrifice continues to have a profound effect on us today, leaving us in a truly defensive mode.

    What we’re willing to do is a first test of structure and integrity.

    NATO juggles its responsibilities as a public exercise. It hasn’t made strong moves against Russia. Its members are largely absent.

    European nations have struggles of their own, being unwilling to drop everything to fight a Russian phantom for Ukraine. It harks back but doesn’t make sense.

    Ukraine has to win but maybe it will happen on its own terms. The ‘boots on the ground’ are Ukrainians seeking an urgent reset for their ambitions.

    If this works Europe has proved that the free world is a place of conclusion for nefarious intent. Any plan of Putin can take a back seat in the great scheme of things.

  • Europe needs a holistic, not precise, engagement now

    The Brexit ‘hunger games’ are over. We’re seeking more from our political representatives out of their participation in our electoral system, and not the much less that we saw before the 2016 referendum.

    It’s the full remit that’s on the table. We’re expecting big returns in our financial and moral investment in people and their exercise in statecraft that is now a 21st Century business bustling with fervent life.

    It’s a reality for all Europeans to consider in their innovations. The holistic wellbeing and status of the Continent is under fire from all corners and we all have to be on our guard. Only the best is needed right now – and it’s only this that deserves our real investments.

    The worded statements that we hear are only a rational response to worded questions. It cannot generate wealth or grow economies in itself. There’s no incitement to hard work in simply saying so, but only in showing such beliefs in action.

    The UK may have to replace the Commonwealth in substance with greater focus on Europe as a continent in action. The links can be kept close but remote for a new micro-arrangement of closer working partnerships in practice in places with renewed interest.

    We’re an intelligent, friendly people at our best and we’re able to grow our interests in things by seeking more room to grow and to expand in new directions. This initiative is a show of strength for such an economy as ours, and benefits all the four nations equally.

  • Europe needs to move on from protection rackets

    The state of affairs of European states is now clearly a fallen, broken interpretation of social affairs. It’s not the firm law we’re promised, or the future that’s safe and fair for all that we feel in our hearts.

    It’s a circle of protection rackets that have little care for our needs. They turn up for random reasons and forget the real ones. They send brutes to threaten us and rally to strengthen their position against us.

    The Europe we know and love is a figment in our minds, just as the EU is an illusion for us. The point is that we need to move beyond concepts, and move into real action. The duties we have aren’t theories but are facts if we just work at it.

  • Europe needs a protection warrant

    The European situation is a state of affairs that we’ve rapidly fallen into. The end of total conflict and the spread of new ideas and values is like an old flame. The things we think of now are the result of fumes of the satanic mills of news journalism, and it’s choking us of life. The Europe we live in needs a responsive mechanism to make life safer, and fairer, for everyone who lives here. The rest of it can be put into the conjecture that passes the time – and may make more sense of it.

  • Caught: Europe criminal

    In an exclusive for Conservative News Site, a Europe-based criminal accused of extensive harassment of UK farmers has been spotted.

    A suspect alleged of extensive crimes in rural areas in the UK seen here in Reading, Berkshire.

    He’s alleged to have teams that damage farming equipment, and legal teams that accuse UK citizens of having caused that damage.

    He also steals legacies and funds from agricultural businesspeople by using a network of European criminals hidden in the continent.

  • Caught: Inhumane criminal

    In an exclusive for Conservative News Site, a suspect believed to be related to Mark Gurman – a prominent Bloomberg pundit and alleged criminal agitator – and alleged of acts of inhumanity has now been spotted in Reading, Berkshire.

    A suspect alleged of serious crimes against humanity in Europe and elsewhere spotted here in a central Reading location.

    He’s alleged to have contacts in deeply set subterranean and vitriolic crime networks who launch severe attacks on the health of young people, in particular in Europe but also in other parts of the world.

  • The EU isn’t our paymaster – but it’s powerful

    The EU is a forgotten dream for the few who wanted it. The rest saw better opportunities in its networks – and corridors of power.

    Yet the 2016 referendum unleashed the UK.

    The result separated us from its constraints – and confines – but not its influence.

    It’s more powerful than we are.

    However, the shortcomings of its rule are our old arguments. The position it still has realigns ours.

    The global map offers zero space for our dominance now.

    We have to manage our own affairs.

    We’ve got to be hardworking, keep our place in the world, and be sovereign.

  • EU propose tougher borders

    Roberta Metsola, European Parliament President, has stated that Europe needs tougher borders.

    Her concerns are echoed by many as the Continent is beset by movement, and trafficking, gangs.

    Roberta Metsola speaking at Europe at the Crossroads

    However, the EU is a supporter of immigration, and has previously enabled its increase.

    In particular, France has struggled as its social systems are pressured by migrant communities.