Putin bigger threat than ISIS? ...

Senior Labour MP Bob Ainsworth warns that Russia is a bigger threat to
world peace than Isis

Rowena Mason, political correspondent

Monday 15 September 2014

theguardian.com

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/15/putin-bad-as-stalin-former-defence-secretary

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Russian president Vladimir Putin has the potential to be as bad as
Stalin and the UK must urgently consider how to stave off the threat
of a new cold war, former defence secretary Bob Ainsworth has said.

The senior Labour MP called for a new review of defence capabilities
before the election, warning Russia is a bigger threat to peace than
the Islamic State (Isis) insurgents in Iraq and Syria.

He made the assessment in a new article for the Chamberlain Files, a
Birmingham public affairs website.

"No leader of a major power has behaved as overtly aggressively since
Stalin in the postwar period, and sadly Putin would be very pleased
with the comparison," he wrote. "He has said the demise of the Soviet
Union was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century and he claims the
right to act on behalf of Russian minorities in other states.

As there are Russian minorities throughout the old Soviet Union and
far wider he is in principle claiming the right to interfere in the
affairs of all of the independent sovereign states of eastern Europe.

"Stalin's policies pushed the world into the cold war. Putin has the
potential to be equally as dangerous."

Ainsworth argued that Isis is an affront to humanity but that it
contains "non-state actors", whereas Putin's Russia confronts the
world with a problem of a different magnitude.

He said the sanctions imposed by the EU are unlikely to go nearly far
enough and called for more effective deterrents to halt Putin's
expansionist aims.

Europe should reduce its reliance on Russian energy and the UK must
revisit the strategic defence review of 2010 with cross-party
agreement, he added.

"The prime minister told the House of Commons recently there is no
need to look at the strategic defence review of 2010 despite the fact
that large scale cuts are still being imposed on our armed forces and
we have an army stuffed full of the kind of vehicles best suited to
fight a counter insurgency in Afghanistan, not those likely to offer
reassurance to our European neighbours facing a Russia that is
re-equipping its own forces," Ainsworth said.

"These capabilities cannot be altered simply or quickly. All party
agreement should be sought for a new review now, this side of the
election, to look at what can be afforded and the kind of training and
equipment needed in the face of the new scenario."

Cameron has pledged to increase defence spending in real terms in the
second half of the decade, following deep cuts made in the defence
review of 2010. Another review is due in 2015 but the government has
so far resisted calls to bring it forward.

Last week, Gerald Howarth, a former coalition defence minister, called
for a new comprehensive strategy for dealing with security threats
arising from Ukraine, the middle east and north Africa.

"Since we completed our strategic security and defence review in 2010,
fundamental changes have taken place across north Africa, the middle
east and Ukraine," he said. "Nothing calls more for a really serious
new strategic defence and security review than the state of affairs at
the moment. I hope that the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence
and other government departments will put time and effort into
producing a strategy.

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