The other day I suggested that trying to support a wrong proposition can make even intelligent people sound silly. Any defence of Russia’s aggression against the Ukraine does just that. Witness Peter Hitchens, who generally makes sense when arguing in favour of supportable propositions, such as leaving the EU orRead More

Even if Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has made the claim himself, you can rely upon the truth of it. A few dozen right wing activists, spoiling for a fight, gathered outside Ukraine’s national parliament.  A company of riot police had been drawn up in front.  The super patriots launched an assault. One threwRead More

Ukraine’s western friends can’t help until the blinkers come off. “Save Ukraine!” went up the cry from the columns of a most respected newspaper. On 20 July The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece entitled “Crucial Weapon in the Defense of Ukraine.” Its authors were Stephen J. Hadley, a former nationalRead More

I, along no doubt with Peter Hitchens, have heaved a sigh of relief. For a while there I was genuinely concerned about Vlad’s continued good health, what with his having taken 10 days out of his public life. That disappearance act gave rise to all sorts of rumours, ranging fromRead More

Two days ago I wrote a piece whose message was summed up in its title: “There will be no Grexit.” At that time international economists were demonstrating, calculators in hand, that it was economically impossible for Greece to stay in the Eurozone definitely, and in the EU probably. And AngieRead More