Is Poland next?
President Putin’s troops are making slow progress in Ukraine but the lack of speed in no way detracts from what military minds see as a foregone conclusion: the physical destruction of a European nation.
In 2017, with a headline-dominating North Korea looking like the biggest threat to global stability, Ben Hodges, then Commanding General of US troops in Europe, told Karina’s Column: “Of course Russia, and its behaviour over the last three years [with invasions of Crimea and Ukraine] is the only nation that really possesses the ability, the capability, to destroy a European country or the United States with their nuclear weapons.”
Quantum Matters: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Quantum Cybersecurity
With a US inteligence report confirming that President Putin authorised a pro-Trump influence campaign in the latest election, China and the US in a stand-off, and the recklessness of ransomware groups tolerated, and at times abetted, by state actors, geographical risk is at its highest in a long time. See my latest column in The Quantum Daily on how we are skirting the edge. And what steps can be taken to mitigate risk.
An assassination in Sarajevo. The subsequent chain of events ultimately leads to a world war. An estimated 20 million people die.
Power to the People
Firstly, many thanks to my dear friend, Alderman, Professor and Sheriff Michael Mainelli for asking me to share some thoughts with you.
INTRODUCTION
Covid-19 and its economic effects are not going away anytime soon. We will be seeing a reconfiguration of our systems, ranging from geopolitical relations to the power of national governments, from company accounts to working patterns.
Some say the new paradigm is but an acceleration of existing trends. I wouldn’t disagree, but there is a point at which acceleration leads us into a new world, one where we must change our outlook. One where the responsibilities of Boards of Directors broaden out into the wider world. THAT is what I will focus on today.
UK General Election 2019
Safeguarding the country
This edition of Karina’s Column is based on an interview with James Arbuthnot, a long-standing Conservative politician who now sits in the House of Lords
With the UK’s momentous General Election a day away, yet another respected career politician is joining the chorus lead by former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Tony Blair in calling for moderates to vote across parties, be it the Liberal Democrats in some cases, or a “sensible Conservative or a sensible Labour person.”
James Arbuthnot, a Conservative peer whose career encompassed the role of Chief Whip, Minister for Defence Procurement and a decade as Chairman of the influential Defence Select Committee, has a one-word answer when asked if he is still a member of the Party: “No.”
“I cancelled my subscription when Boris Johnson became leader, for two reasons,” he adds. “First, because I didn’t believe the policies the Conservative Party was following over Brexit. And the second because I didn’t have faith or belief or respect for Boris Johnson.”
Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator of The Financial Times, argues that a hung Parliament would be the best result of the December 12th election, as it would make the major parties realise the damage arising out of their extreme positions and force them to rediscover their moderate souls.