Hello from The National.
Here is your weekly update of what is making the headlines in Washington.
Boris Johnson is in his comfort zone this morning, jetting off to address the Ukraine crisis and the fallout for Europe with a visit to Sweden and Finland. Both countries are key to what happens next and The National’s Thomas Harding has just crossed from Sweden to Finland and will be meeting the prime minister later after the official meetings in Helsinki. While in Sweden Thomas talked with Jan Henningsson, a former Swedish diplomat who observes that the country’s military is a tenth the size of its Cold War numbers. This is a country that is built for peace but what happens when the conditions change? And what happens when your neighbour needs your help?
One of the themes emerging from the Swedish/Finnish push to come under the Nato umbrella is that both countries have a whole of society approach to defence that is different from the alliance military model. This means mobilisation takes a different form and there are dimensions of this approach that Nato can take onboard.
As for the Russia-Ukraine war itself, we have written this week about US and other intelligence warnings of a long-haul battle of attrition. For the world beyond Europe this has worrying implications for global food supplies. Which is why the micro-battle for control of the northern Black Sea is one of the most important aspects of the conflict, as per this report this week.
More broadly the contested history of Europe is setting the tone for this conflict in sustained and important ways. A number of British, Polish and Lituanian officials have now said Russia has no unsullied right to the banner of anti-Nazism. As our editorial makes clear laden terms are sustaining the conflict.
See you next week.
Damien McElroy
London Bureau Chief
TELLING MOMENTS
For my money, this exchange between a cabinet minister and his Labour counterpart, or shadow, is right on the frontline of UK politics. Michael Gove, who was in the cabinet in 2010 and is still there today, was defending the Queen’s Speech legislative programme on Wednesday morning. At one point he turned to a variety of accents and dredged up a forgotten comedy skit to make his point. Channelling Ron Burgundy he said the words “an emergency budget” and “a major, capital letters, big news story” in American anchor speak.
Then he added an exhortation to all watching on to “calm down” in a Liverpool accent, reviving the skit of the offensive comedian Harry Enfield.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy tweeted a clip of Mr Gove and asked: “What is he doing!?“
Making jokes and using silly voices while families across the country are struggling to survive.“
This isn’t a game (or an Oxford Union debate!). People are having to choose between heating and eating.
“Take it seriously. Do your job.”
SOMETHING UNDERSTOOD
It’s a shame the UK does not have court TV as the latest minor celeb libel action plays out. Coleen, wife of former England striker Wayne Rooney, is being sued for alleging, after an Agatha Christie-style deduction exercise, that the Instagram account of another spouse of a player was a channel for leaks about her life to the media.
Rebekah Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie, denies leaking stories to the media and is suing her former friend for libel, while Mrs Rooney is defending the claim on the basis her post was “substantially true”.
In her written evidence, Mrs Vardy said she believed Mrs Rooney had made her a “scapegoat” for previous leaked stories about her marriage to Mr Rooney.
It’s a battle royale but not one on the TV. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if that is a good or bad thing.
HAPPY DAYS AHEAD?
Look out for the EU rules requiring a mask on flights to be dropped next week.
The latest from Northern Ireland is that the assembly that was elected last week is now unlikely to even formally sit as the DUP rows back on the idea it will join the vote to elect a new speaker.
DUMMY HEADLINE
