15th of May 2025 As John Lanchester recently remarked (LRB 27 April 2025) ‘However little money there is for anything else, there’s always enough money for a war’. The failures of neoliberal economics threaten all kinds of political backlashes, some of which have already been seen in the nationalist turn of international relations. ‘Military Keynesianism’ … Continue reading Military Keynesianism?
Category: Journalism
Robots as Weapons of War
27th of May 2025 I. Some of you may know the famous scene at the start of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, when one of our fur-covered ancestors picks up a bone from a skeleton lying on the ground and realises that it can be used to fight off enemies. Having killed the leader of … Continue reading Robots as Weapons of War
1984 Revisited – Robert Skidelsky and Attila Mesterházy Jr.
5th of June 2025 In George Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother’s state of Oceania is perpetually at war. This never-ending conflict is not a conventional war to be won, but rather a tool of control. The paradoxical party slogan “War is Peace” is the key idea. Continuous war justifies continuous surveillance. Orwell’s novel vividly illustrates how … Continue reading 1984 Revisited – Robert Skidelsky and Attila Mesterházy Jr.
Letter in The Guardian: Russia adviser Fiona Hill’s alarming conclusion
Fri 13 Jun 2025 Fiona Hill’s assessment of the Russian threat to Britain is a classic example of how a seemingly rational argument based on a false premise and scanty evidence can lead to a mad conclusion (Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says, 6 … Continue reading Letter in The Guardian: Russia adviser Fiona Hill’s alarming conclusion
New Statesman: Could John Maynard Keynes fix Trump’s tariff crisis?
This trade war is really a fight for the future of the dollar. 16/04/2025 Trump’s tariff bombardment has torn up the rules by which Western elites have lived for the last 35 years: the rules of a globalising economy under the benign guardianship of a Pax Americana. He is openly challenging opinion makers to change … Continue reading New Statesman: Could John Maynard Keynes fix Trump’s tariff crisis?
Europe’s Misguided Interventions
Apr 01, 2025 Crossposted from "Brave New Europe" At last week’s Paris meeting of the ‘coalition of the willing’, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron congratulated themselves on reinserting Europe into the peace process opened up by President Trump. In practice, they have done their best to derail it. Nothing is more foolish than their idea … Continue reading Europe’s Misguided Interventions
The American Conservative – Why Is the UK So Invested in the Russia–Ukraine War?
1st of January 2025 Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election of November 2024 has shredded the liberal script about the Ukraine war. That script was to offer unconditional moral and material support for a Ukrainian victory, defined minimally as recovery of the invaded territories of Crimea and Donbass. In Britain, it was considered … Continue reading The American Conservative – Why Is the UK So Invested in the Russia–Ukraine War?
The American Conservative: Skidelsky on Russia, Ukraine and the Future of European Security
15th of February 2025 Europe is coming to grips with new global realities. James Carden of The American Conservative and David Speedie of the Carnegie Council’s Global Engagement Program sat down with Baron Robert Sidelsky to discuss his newfound optimism regarding a settlement between Russia and Ukraine and Europe’s continued dependence on American security guarantees. … Continue reading The American Conservative: Skidelsky on Russia, Ukraine and the Future of European Security
Britain’s insistence on total Ukrainian victory was misguided – it’s time for a realistic compromise
The Guardian - 25th of February 2025 "By refusing to back negotiations for the past three years, the UK has become irrelevant to the search for peace – we must change course" On the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, British policy towards the war is in a mess. The continuing official British position, echoed … Continue reading Britain’s insistence on total Ukrainian victory was misguided – it’s time for a realistic compromise
Ukrayna: Savaş mı barış mı? – Article in Karar – 13/01/2025
Donald Trump’ın Kasım 2024’teki ABD başkanlık seçimlerindeki zaferi, Ukrayna savaşını sona erdirmeye yönelik liberal senaryoyu yırtıp attı. Bu senaryo, Ukrayna’ya işgal altındaki Kırım ve Donbass topraklarını geri almak olarak belirtilen zafere ulaşana kadar koşulsuz maddi ve manevi destek sunmaktı. Trump’ın seçilmesinden önce bile senaryo, Ukrayna’ya Rusya ile barış görüşmelerinde mümkün olan en iyi pazarlık pozisyonunu … Continue reading Ukrayna: Savaş mı barış mı? – Article in Karar – 13/01/2025
Robert Skidelsky 