Chatham House Demands Europe Go to War Against Russia

April 27 , 2021 (EIRNS)—In an April 23 article entitled “Europe Must Admit Russia Is Waging War,” Chatham House/Royal Institute for International Affairs, the major foreign policy institution of the British Crown, fiercely attacks Europe for its failure to go to war with Russia, whose alleged crimes include the “slow-motion murder of Navalny,” massing troops on the Ukrainian border, and most egregiously, according to authors Keir Giles and Toomas Hendrik Ilves, involvement in the 2014 “massive explosion” at a Czech ammunition depot. Alleging that the two Russians implicated in the Czech explosion were the same ones responsible for that year’s poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, the two authors warn, ominously, that failure to respond to a “direct attack by Russia on a NATO and EU member state” would be “inexcusable and highly dangerous.”

This is an act of war, the Chatham House duo scream, and yet, Europe is balking on doing anything significant, making only weak statements about Russia massing troops on the border with Ukraine (urging “restraint”), even seeing Russian troop withdrawal (the maneuvers that Moscow informed NATO of having ended) announced last week as a positive development. The Russian actions were tantamount to an “act of state terror” on the territory of a NATO and EU member state, the authors ever more frantically charge; and the Russians may also be responsible for “unexplained explosions” in Bulgaria. Where’s the punishment? Sanctions and diplomatic expulsions are only part of a coordinated response to Russia, they complain—not good enough. Rather, there must be “joint and public recognition that Europe is under attack, and that allies must stand together to confront it.”

The authors are aggrieved that “some Western capitals continue to inadvertently encourage, rather than discourage Russian aggression.” Germany is still going ahead with Nord Stream 2; some governments think it’s a good sign that Russia withdrew troops from the Ukraine border. But, “direct evidence of Russia’s culpability must not be played down.” The authors state that there “is a clear chain of command linking” the two “terrorists” who allegedly were responsible for the Czech explosion, and, they add, the GRU Colonel who directed the Skripal poisoning was in direct contact with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The authors state, hopefully, that the most recent imposition of sanctions on Russia by the U.S. was an invitation to Russia to cease its escalation. But Russia rejected the offer, “leaving the way open for the U.S. to bring in broader and deeper measures so far held in reserve.” Always count on U.S. “brawn.”