26 February 2025

Dear Alison Bennett

I was dismayed to read your weekly newsletter this week, and especially to read that you support the idea of ever more spending on weapons when we are already one of the biggest spender on arms in the world and spend far more on arms to Ukraine than any EU country.

NATO has become a danger to itself
You speak glowingly of NATO. But NATO and NATO countries have strayed from their original purpose and principles over the past 25 years, going far from being a purely defensive organisation, and becoming expansionist and aggressive. The US was the leader in taking NATO into the illegal bombing of Serbia and taking NATO countries into disastrous violent regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US is not a beacon of wise defence policy. It has led us into illegal, immoral and hugely costly military adventures.

Western leaders, when they were smarter than today’s, kept the cold war with USSR/Russia cold for half a century. NATO is now a failed organisation whose chief benefit is to US arms manufacturers.

In the last 25 years NATO has failed to maintain peaceful relations with Russia so that we have ended up engaged in a proxy war with Russia. Was it because NATO wasn’t or didn’t look strong enough that this war in Ukraine erupted when NATO had absolutely vastly more military power than Russia?

NATO’s mistake
It couldn’t have been NATO’s military weakness or lack of arms that caused the war. What NATO did wrong was engage in multiple acts of provocation of Russia. For example, expanding NATO to be ever closer to Russian borders and parading tanks along borders with Russia. Acts not calculated to convince Russia of our peaceful intentions. Understandably, I think, Russia did not want Ukraine to join NATO allowing the possibility of the stationing of nuclear missiles close to Russian territory and in particular, Moscow. Talk of Ukraine joining NATO was red rag to a bull.

Can we spend our way to peace and security?
I do not believe that meeting a 2.5% of GDP spending target on “defence” – spending billions more – will make us more secure? Where did this figure come from? Did someone work out our military needs and cost them and find that this was the sum needed? It seems to me that it’s just a figure plucked out of the air – a figure the US thinks we can be pushed into spending on their weapons.

War with Russia is not an option
No country could win a war with Russia. It would be a disaster for every country involved even if it fell short of a nuclear war that would destroy human life as we know it. Please can you tell me how you envisage a war with Russia being won with the so far unplanned extra weapons that we now want to buy and so that we might emerge a prosperous and free country?

What can we do?
First we need to understand the concepts of defence and security. Successful defence and security may have nothing to do with possession of destructive power. Consider our former enemy, Germany. Why does Germany not even think of attacking us now? Is it because we have nuclear weapons? The very idea of a war between us is out of the question. We have come to a more mature view of international relations and realised the mutual benefits peace.

Euro-panic
Politicians in Europe have been panicked into trying to look as if they have answers when, in my view, they have no idea what they are doing. Until a few years ago Germany had been developing friendly relations with Russia to such an extent that most of their gas supply was provided by Russia. That showed a high degree of trust and understanding. This was the sort of thing that could have been developed – until it was scuppered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Causes? Well that’s a longish story, part of which is mentioned above.

So what is needed is European countries – perhaps NATO without the US – dealing directly with Russia and reaching understandings. The present hostilities are awful and dangerous and the end of the war in Ukraine will not of itself bring peace and a sense of security to Europe.

Fear of Authoritarianism
You mention the horrors of authoritarianism. I am in favour of democracy, the rule of law and respect for individual rights and freedoms. We know of examples of countries and times when millions have suffered unbearably – as in Gaza today. We live with a number of authoritarian regimes in the world but some of them now look after their people better than they did several decades ago. We trade with them.

On the other hand, US democracy and the Israeli democracy show that terrible things can be done to ordinary people even in democracies. So being against, or critical of authoritarian regimes should not lead us to think we have a duty to destroy them or that we can impose democracy on a country and all will be well.

There is factual information on my blog on the topic of arms spending and how we are already almost world leaders in this field. 

Please can you tell me what the increase in arms spending should be spent on and how these purchases would make us more secure than we are at present?

I hope Lib Dems will engage in a critical analysis of proposed increases in defence spending.