Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed had quite a Churchillian tone to it. He essentially told European leaders that they were given the choice between war and dishonor and they have chosen dishonor and as a result, they will get more war. His reference is of course to the current war in Ukraine.
Mr. Johnson realizes that the Ukraine war is Europe’s problem now. He sees a revanchist Russia that not only wants to conquer Ukraine, but also to reconstruct its old empire in Eastern Europe, a base from which to subject the rest of the European continent to constant threat. The frustration for Mr. Johnson is the lack of urgency in the European effort to confront the rapidly growing Russian menace.
In his article, Mr. Johnson wrote: “If we care about the suffering of these Ukrainians, as we say we do, then for God’s sake let’s give them the means to take out the factories that make Russia’s drones. Why are the Germans still sitting on their arsenal of Taurus cruise missiles?”
Great question. I have never understood the claim by some European nations that they need to conserve their weapons in order to be able to defend themselves in the event of attacks on their homelands. They are in the middle of an actual war today and they have ammunition sitting in warehouses gathering dust. They are holding on to those weapons for future defense against whom? America? China?
Mr. Johnson made an excellent point when he wrote this: “We Europeans could show our commitment to a free and sovereign Ukraine by sending a contingent of European troops—“boots on the ground”—to one or more of the parts of Ukraine that are completely safe. Their mission wouldn’t be to fight, or to put European lives at risk, but to make the essential point that the decision to invite foreign soldiers onto Ukrainian soil is a matter for Ukraine, now and forever. It isn’t a matter for Mr. Putin.”
Ukraine’s allies have always either been too slow or overly timid in their responses to the Russian aggression. Russia didn’t seek anyone’s permission before inviting tens of thousands of North Korean soldiers onto its soil to fight Ukraine.
What seems to have irked Mr. Johnson the most was the failure of European leaders to unfreeze the $140 billion of Russian assets held in the account of Euroclear, a Belgian firm. That money was supposed to be sent to Ukraine to help in its self-defense. The proposal failed due to Belgian opposition. The Belgians feared that they could be subjected to a lawsuit by Russia at a future date. Mr. Johnson was quite flabbergasted by that. He asked: “Why didn’t we Europeans have the balls to show independence from the U.S., and to go the extra mile for Ukraine? Because we were afraid of being sued? By Mr. Putin? In what court? In what world?” He called on European leaders to “rectify the disgrace.”
As the Belgians feared, Russia’s Central Bank filed a lawsuit in the Moscow City Arbitration Court last December. The bank issued a statement accusing Euroclear of ‘“unlawful activities” that are denying Moscow access to its funds and securities.’ A former Russian central bank official was quoted in a New York Times article as saying that “A Moscow court cannot force Euroclear to comply, and any ruling would be unenforceable abroad. But it is not meaningless: It creates formal documentation of Russia’s legal claims and serves as a political signal ahead of international litigation.”
Two points on that. First, absurdity seems to be lost on many people nowadays. The Russian central bank officials who filed the lawsuit must think that the numerous atrocities committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine after the unprovoked invasion all constitute lawful activities that have not denied Ukrainians access to their lives and liberties. Second, the former official who talks about future international litigation is apparently unaware that the rules-based order has been pronounced dead, and that there is no such thing as international law these days. As Mr. Johnson asks, in what world would this legal process take place?
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, said recently that this is not a time for international niceties. I hope European leaders heard that. They need to wake up quickly because the Russian threat is growing by the day. Many political commentators were not impressed with Mr. Johnson’s performance as prime minister. On the current war in Europe, I find the clarity of his thinking highly admirable.