Who Will Defend Europe?

An Awakened Russia and a Sleeping Continent

Keir Giles

• Publisher: Hurst Publishers
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781911723486
• eBook ISBN: 9781805261858
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Storia militare e marittima

Who will defend Europe? The answer should be obvious: Europe should be able to defend itself. Yet, for decades, most of the continent enjoyed a defence holiday, outsourcing protection to the United States while banking an increasingly illusory ‘peace dividend’. Now, after three decades of reducing armed forces and drawing down defence industries, Europe finds itself close to unprotected—while Russia is intent on continuing its war of expansion, and the US is distracted and divided.

In this urgent, vital book, Keir Giles lays out the stark choices facing leaders and societies as they confront the return of war in Europe. He explains how the West’s unwillingness to confront Russia has nurtured the threat, and that Putin’s ambition puts the whole continent at risk. He assesses the role and deficiencies of NATO as a guarantor of hard security, and whether the EU or coalitions of the willing can fill the gap. Above all, Giles emphasises the need for new leadership in defence of the free world after the US has stepped aside— and warns that the UK’s brief moment of setting the pace for Europe has already been squandered.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgement
• Introduction
• 1. Russia’s Next War
• 2. The Future of Ukraine and the Future of Europe
• 3. America, Distracted and Divided
• 4. A Fading Role for a Fading Britain
• 5. NATO and Europe: Half-Promises and Broken Pledges
• 6. Readiness and Resilience
• 7. Europe’s New Leaders
• 8. What Comes Next?
• Notes
• Index
• Back Cover