But do these ‘head in the clouds’ so-called Remainers actually know what is happening in Europe - namely, the electoral march of the Hard Right?
Even before the 2016 referendum in which the UK - albeit narrowly - voted Leave, I have been a staunch euro-skeptic. The old European Economic Community (EEC) was a workable body, but the expanding EU is nothing but a bureaucratic nightmare.
I voted for Brexit and if there was another referendum, I’d vote to stay outside the EU. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than for there to be a similar referendum in Southern Ireland on EU membership, and for Eire to follow the UK in voting Leave now that the republic is geographically isolated from the remainder of the EU.
However, there is one trend which even hardline Brexiteers like myself have to take into consideration. Of the 27 current EU member states, there is a significant Hard Right contingent in at least 16 of those nations, especially Germany and France.
There are two crucial factors we Brexiteers - and all of your Remainers, too - need to take into consideration. Firstly, the military agenda of the new Imperial Russia under modern-day Tsar Vladimir Putin.
While Irish nationalists are hoping for a border poll on Irish unity by 2030, the hard reality is that by that year we could be in a war with Russia. In this respect, the UK Government needs to stop wasting billions of pounds on overseas aid and pump that cash into getting our Armed Forces onto a war footing.
In terms of recruitment to our Armed Forces, recruits should be in no doubt that they are signing up to be prepared for conflict. Putin is not going to stop with Ukraine. That is merely a stepping stone for the rest of Europe. Both the UK and the wider NATO alliance need to box clever when it comes to military strategy.
Emperor Napoleon of France in the early 19th century, Kaiser Wilheim II of Germany in 1914 during the Great War, and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in 1941 during World War Two all made the same military blunder - they invaded Russia. In all three conflicts, all the Russians had to do was rapidly retreat as far east as possible and let the fierce Russian winter do the rest.
So the key question remains - is the EU and NATO ready for a ground war with Russia, or will the Russians ‘play dirty’ militarily and use chemical and biological weapons against the West? Or even more bluntly, which side would be prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons first?
Or perhaps, wishful thinking may come into play and we hope that World War Three against Russia will be a cyber war against computer hackers, or using AI-developed drones to bomb targets - anything to avoid ‘boots on the ground’ and troops fighting each other in World War One-style trench warfare.
And all of these scenarios are excluding that Russia’s pals in China and North Korea - both nuclear powers - don’t decide to get involved on Putin’s side. Then there’s the Israelis, who also have nuclear weaponry.
If faced with a Biblical-style Armageddon, would the Israeli leadership be prepared to ‘push the red buttons’. Or is Israel’s current sworn enemy, Iran, crazy enough to create a situation where it can ‘nuke Israel’? And if the conflict should dramatically escalate during the remaining term of Donald Trump’s Presidency, how will the US react?
But the second real question for Brexiteers with the looming threat from Russia is, what happens if after future European Parliamentary elections, the Hard Right becomes the dominant political force within the overwhelming majority of the 27 EU member states? For example, if the significant influence of the Hard Right increases from its current 16/27 to 21/27?
If populism becomes the ruling ideology across the EU, could that Union be reformed into a military coalition rather than the current political bureaucracy? In such a scenario, especially if Reform UK can maintain its poll ratings, would joining a Hard Right-led, military European Union make sense?
Obviously, rejoining or even resetting the UK’s relationship with the current EU is a non-starter with us Brexiteers. But if the next UK Government was a coalition of the Right involving the Tories and Reform, and the Hard Right made more gains throughout other EU nations, then a purely military reset could be on the cards.
However, in such a reset scenario, the Windsor Framework, Protocol, Irish Sea Border and all the foot-dragging Remainer ploys would have to be permanently politically binned. The UK would be signing up to a new military alliance against Russia - and Southern Ireland would have to play ball, too. No more hiding behind the ‘neutrality’ smokescreen as in 1939 when the Second World War erupted.
The establishment of such a reformed military EU needs to begin this year. There’s no use waiting until Putin’s tanks cross into EU member state territory. The politically snowflake and woke Left-wing of the EU needs to understand that Putin is ex-KGB, and therefore, he plays the long game when it comes to conflict and territorial advantages.
Of course, if Putin was to be deposed in a rerun of the 1917 revolution in Russia which saw the end of the Tsarist monarchy, might we see an even more hardline president take over in Moscow. Is it a case of ‘better the devil you know’ when it comes to Putin?
Even before the 2016 referendum in which the UK - albeit narrowly - voted Leave, I have been a staunch euro-skeptic. The old European Economic Community (EEC) was a workable body, but the expanding EU is nothing but a bureaucratic nightmare.
I voted for Brexit and if there was another referendum, I’d vote to stay outside the EU. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than for there to be a similar referendum in Southern Ireland on EU membership, and for Eire to follow the UK in voting Leave now that the republic is geographically isolated from the remainder of the EU.
However, there is one trend which even hardline Brexiteers like myself have to take into consideration. Of the 27 current EU member states, there is a significant Hard Right contingent in at least 16 of those nations, especially Germany and France.
There are two crucial factors we Brexiteers - and all of your Remainers, too - need to take into consideration. Firstly, the military agenda of the new Imperial Russia under modern-day Tsar Vladimir Putin.
While Irish nationalists are hoping for a border poll on Irish unity by 2030, the hard reality is that by that year we could be in a war with Russia. In this respect, the UK Government needs to stop wasting billions of pounds on overseas aid and pump that cash into getting our Armed Forces onto a war footing.
In terms of recruitment to our Armed Forces, recruits should be in no doubt that they are signing up to be prepared for conflict. Putin is not going to stop with Ukraine. That is merely a stepping stone for the rest of Europe. Both the UK and the wider NATO alliance need to box clever when it comes to military strategy.
Emperor Napoleon of France in the early 19th century, Kaiser Wilheim II of Germany in 1914 during the Great War, and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler in 1941 during World War Two all made the same military blunder - they invaded Russia. In all three conflicts, all the Russians had to do was rapidly retreat as far east as possible and let the fierce Russian winter do the rest.
So the key question remains - is the EU and NATO ready for a ground war with Russia, or will the Russians ‘play dirty’ militarily and use chemical and biological weapons against the West? Or even more bluntly, which side would be prepared to use tactical nuclear weapons first?
Or perhaps, wishful thinking may come into play and we hope that World War Three against Russia will be a cyber war against computer hackers, or using AI-developed drones to bomb targets - anything to avoid ‘boots on the ground’ and troops fighting each other in World War One-style trench warfare.
And all of these scenarios are excluding that Russia’s pals in China and North Korea - both nuclear powers - don’t decide to get involved on Putin’s side. Then there’s the Israelis, who also have nuclear weaponry.
If faced with a Biblical-style Armageddon, would the Israeli leadership be prepared to ‘push the red buttons’. Or is Israel’s current sworn enemy, Iran, crazy enough to create a situation where it can ‘nuke Israel’? And if the conflict should dramatically escalate during the remaining term of Donald Trump’s Presidency, how will the US react?
But the second real question for Brexiteers with the looming threat from Russia is, what happens if after future European Parliamentary elections, the Hard Right becomes the dominant political force within the overwhelming majority of the 27 EU member states? For example, if the significant influence of the Hard Right increases from its current 16/27 to 21/27?
If populism becomes the ruling ideology across the EU, could that Union be reformed into a military coalition rather than the current political bureaucracy? In such a scenario, especially if Reform UK can maintain its poll ratings, would joining a Hard Right-led, military European Union make sense?
Obviously, rejoining or even resetting the UK’s relationship with the current EU is a non-starter with us Brexiteers. But if the next UK Government was a coalition of the Right involving the Tories and Reform, and the Hard Right made more gains throughout other EU nations, then a purely military reset could be on the cards.
However, in such a reset scenario, the Windsor Framework, Protocol, Irish Sea Border and all the foot-dragging Remainer ploys would have to be permanently politically binned. The UK would be signing up to a new military alliance against Russia - and Southern Ireland would have to play ball, too. No more hiding behind the ‘neutrality’ smokescreen as in 1939 when the Second World War erupted.
The establishment of such a reformed military EU needs to begin this year. There’s no use waiting until Putin’s tanks cross into EU member state territory. The politically snowflake and woke Left-wing of the EU needs to understand that Putin is ex-KGB, and therefore, he plays the long game when it comes to conflict and territorial advantages.
Of course, if Putin was to be deposed in a rerun of the 1917 revolution in Russia which saw the end of the Tsarist monarchy, might we see an even more hardline president take over in Moscow. Is it a case of ‘better the devil you know’ when it comes to Putin?
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News. |
