Friday

29th Mar 2024

Britain must heal the wounds with Europe

"Britain must heal the wounds with Europe, particularly France and Germany," says Robin Cook in his first major interview since resigning from Tony Blair's Cabinet in protest over the British Iraq policy.

In an interview published on Sunday by the Observer, Mr Cook said, "the Bush administration does not share the values of Britain or Europe".

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"If Britain does not find a way to say no to the US then the concept of international solidarity is dead".

Mr Cook knows the world is dealing with a new reality of 'pre-emptive diplomacy', the new American doctrine followed by American president George Bush and his inner circle.

Robin Cook, who is still the chairman of the European Socialist Party, speaks in the interview of a crisis in the world order, once based on an acceptance that the UN was the ultimate custodian of international law and now replaced by the desires of the world's first hyper-power.

"America is a hyper-power, it can afford to go it alone,'" Mr Cook said. "Britain is not a superpower. It is not in our interests to contribute to a weakening and a sidelining of international bodies like the Security Council. The Security Council and the system of world order governed by rules have been badly damaged."

Cook says that Britain now finds itself in a diplomatic position "that it will come to regret" - too close to America, too far away from Europe.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

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Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

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