Britain must confront the new Axis of Evil

It beggars belief that political life is carrying on “as usual” in the face of the growing storm

View the world through the filter of the Labour Government’s proclamations, and you could be forgiven for thinking we live in peaceful times. Sir Keir Starmer appears to be utterly focused on domestic political management, with defence relegated to a secondary consideration when remembered at all.
Look across the Channel, however, and the scale of the threat facing Britain could not be clearer. A full battalion of North Korean soldiers is reportedly set to be deployed to Ukraine in support of Russia’s invasion, providing much needed manpower as the conflict grinds on. 
It is not the first time that Putin has turned to his allies for support. Russian forces are already using North Korean artillery shells to strike at Ukraine’s defensive lines, Iranian drones to bombard its infrastructure, and Chinese components to construct their weapons. But the entry of Pyongyang’s troops into the war would mark a significant escalation: rather than supplying weapons and training, as the West has for Ukraine, Russia’s allies would be directly intervening to ensure its victory. 
It is worth reiterating precisely what this deployment represents: a state half the world away will be directly taking part in a war of aggression against a European country. That it has passed almost below the radar shows that Putin’s frog-boiling tactics have worked; his provocations have stayed below the threshold at which Western capitals would have felt compelled to respond.
That he has managed to avoid drawing a response, however, does not mean that one is not required. It is increasingly hard to disentangle the tensions rising around the world; Iran’s assaults upon Israel, China’s exercises around Taiwan, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine look increasingly like a concerted joint challenge to the world order assembled by a West unwilling to meet it as such.
London is not alone in being distracted by domestic political concerns, with November’s US election looming large over politics in Washington. But for all that the direction of American policy may be in question, its ability to defend itself is not. Britain’s capabilities, frankly, are.
Yet while Sir Keir Starmer maintains his commitment to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence is “cast iron”, he has failed to put any sort of timetable on the figure, instead apparently preferring to spend on priorities such as above inflation pay rises for civil servants.
It beggars belief that political life is carrying on “as usual” in the face of the growing storm. We are well past the point where our security could simply be taken for granted. The Government must wake up and see the world as it is, rather than sleepwalking towards a potential global conflict.