Some may think Mark Rutte has overstated the threat to Europe posed by Russia today, but he has only been echoing what a growing body of analysts and commentators have been saying for several years.
Russia presents the most dangerous threat to the relative stability of Europe since the end of the Second World War and the end of the Cold War. Russia dominated Eastern Europe from 1945 to 1989 through force of arms, and in 2022, it shattered the peace of Europe by a full-scale attack on a sovereign European state.
We have a choice. We either try to talk our way back to a peaceful continent or we rearm ourselves to deter a future conflict. Appeasement failed in 1939 - a disastrous war followed.
In 1935, we were spending less than three per cent of GDP on defence and failed to either deter or appease Hitler. When war broke out in 1939, that figure shot up to 19 per cent, and in 1940, when we were fighting for our very existence, the figure was 46 per cent.
That is the cost of fighting a full-scale war, not to mention the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in this country and many tens of millions across the world.
In 1940, Winston Churchill's leadership ensured our survival. Later, he famously pointed out the difference between politicians and statesmen - politicians look to the next election, statesmen to the next generation.
We owe it to our sons and grandsons not to condemn them to the horrors experienced by our grandfathers. £3.5% of GDP spent on defence is the price of peace through deterrence. Is Keir Starmer a politician or a stateman? We will know if he has the courage to fund that price.
And it will take courage to find the necessary money to reinvest in our Armed Forces and grow our military capability, alongside that of our NATO allies, so that we can deter Vladimir Putin.
Europe should take the threat of full-scale war with Russia seriously. This is why - Lord Dannatt | X
It is our duty as a NATO member to stand alongside Poland, Finland, Sweden and the Baltic States. Whether or not there is a ceasefire at some point in Ukraine, Putin will push again.
He will want to test and ideally break the solidarity of NATO and Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty – an attack on one member is an attack on all members. That has been the strength of NATO and must remain so.
Even though the US under Donald Trump has signalled that the US will do less to support the security of Europe, it is essential that America remains an active NATO member.
That means that we European states must rapidly backfill some of the military capabilities hitherto provided by the US. There is no time to lose. The clock is ticking, and Vladimir is impatient to secure his place in history.
Statesmen in the West must look to future generations and not just to the next election. Brave democracy must triumph over self-seeking dictatorships.
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