Frederick Forsyth, a columnist for the British newspaper the Express and the author of The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue, The Day of Jackal and other classic thrillers, writes about his upcoming thriller and offers his view of Putin, a resurgent Russia and the European Union (EU).
Life can be extremely
irritating. About six months ago I came up with a couple of predictions as to
what was likely to happen on the world stage before very long. Foolishly for an
old codger who swore he was in retirement after my last novel The Kill List and
real swansong The Outsider, I mentioned the ideas to my agent. He mentioned it
to my publisher and the pair of them went into spasm.
So weeks later I capitulated
and agreed to make a real last novel out of it. It all meant a lot of research
as usual in order to accrue the authenticity that makes a fictional story
almost believable.
The trouble is, it is all
happening too fast. And no, it is not Islamic State-style terrorism any more.
The new peril is the increasingly aggressive attitude towards the West in
general and this country in particular by Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. The
other idea I will keep quiet about lest it also happens before I am ready to
write.
Those of the grandpa
generation lived through Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Andropov. After the
reforming Mikhail Gorbachev – who closed down world communism, abolished the
Soviet Union, dismantled the KGB and liberated the six European Soviet
satellites (who promptly joined the EU) – we thought all threats from Moscow
might be over. It was called the Peace Dividend and we thought we could cut
back on defense expenditure. So we did: a mistake, it seems.
Russia, despite an economy
the size of Italy on a wet Sunday morning, is rearming furiously. The elected
dictator (oh yes, it's possible if you rig the elections) is using the new income
from oil and gas exports to build or re-fit massive warships, tanks, missiles
and bombers. History shows us that when tyrants pile up this weaponry, they end
up by using it – to invade or at least threaten.
Putin is slowly rebuilding
the inner core of the old USSR. The rebellious Chechnya is back under his
thumb, headed by his servant Kadyrov. Belarus does exactly what it is told
under its obedient dictator Lukashenko. Crimea has been re-annexed, Ukraine
invaded, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan intimidated.
He now threatens the Baltic
States. But they are EU and Nato members so we have to defend them. Depend on
our EU partners to do that? You might as well whistle Dixie.
You can read the rest of the
column via the below link:
You can also read Frederick
Forsyth’s previous column on Putin via the below link:
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