George Robertson on Ukraine
Thu, Oct 6th 2022 at 6:00 pm -
George Robertson likely on Ukraine
6 October 2022
Visit by Lord George Robertson.There was an excellent turnout of members and visitors to last Thursday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Bridge of Allan and Dunblane. Introduced by President Craig Mair, the speaker for the evening, making a welcome return to the Club, was former Secretary General of NATO, Lord George Robertson whose talk was about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
His view was that the problems around world energy supply, food shortages and so on were almost entirely down to the actions of President Putin when he invaded Ukraine. He noted that, in 2002, he chaired a Summit Meeting with NATO Heads of State and Government and the Russian Federation, where agreement was reached on a wide range of areas of co-operation, including recognising the sovereignty of independent nation states. The Declaration was signed by, among others, President Putin. Now, 20 years later, the actions by Putin mean that we are, effectively, at war with Russia even if it we don’t recognise it. It is not, for us, conventional warfare but it nevertheless affects us directly with energy supply problems, cyber attacks and the undermining of democratic institutions. Despite our obvious support for Ukraine, Lord Robertson’s view was that we are not yet taking it seriously enough. He stressed several key areas going forward:
• We need to ensure Ukraine continues to get as much equipment and supplies as they need – they are not just fighting for themselves but for us all.
• The West must remain united
• We need to address the reluctance of certain countries in the Global South, Africa, India and South America for example, to get them to recognise that this conflict is not just a European issue. Russia has broken all sorts of standards, including the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Convention and has committed horrific war crimes.
• We must look beyond the conflict and have sight of peace in the future but in the meantime, we must keep public attention focussed on the importance of supporting Ukraine.
Following a very interesting range of questions, on behalf of the members and visitors, Graham Russell gave a vote of thanks to Lord Robertson for a very informative and interesting talk.
