“In 2024 Britain stands at a turning point in our history. … The world’s become acutely dangerous,” says U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps, in a video posted on X.
“All around us, our enemies are preparing and we are just seeing the start of tragic consequences. From Ukraine to the Middle East, the South China Sea to North Korea, South America to Africa and new theatres from cyber to space warfare, all of which could have disastrous impact at home. How we respond will define our future,” he continues.
What to do? The choice is clear, according to Schapps: “Just like our enemies, we must be prepared for a new era of confrontation.”
It is the nature of a fading hegemon to see enemies everywhere. Those enemies include not only other nations, but the people of Anglo-American NATO, whose influence on policy is far weaker than those extolling the virtues of “democracy” would claim.
Social media censorship, “hate speech” laws, changes to election procedures, emergency orders promulgated in wartime—these are the means by which the greatest threat to the current NATO world order is to be kept under control. That threat is you!
Ursula von der Leyen explained in her speech at Davis. “[T]he top concern for the next two years is not conflict or climate. It is disinformation and misinformation,” she said.
In Schapps’s “new era of confrontation,” opposition in the form of the electorate must be dealt with, just as are foreign threats to dominance. As the old concept of “future” vanishes in NATO-land, what policies are not possible under conditions of emergency crisis-management?
