{"id":15086,"date":"2024-02-04T12:48:28","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T12:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/04\/british-defense-chief-urges-restraint-as-violence-in-middle-east-escalates-war-in-no-ones-interest\/"},"modified":"2024-02-04T12:48:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T12:48:28","slug":"british-defense-chief-urges-restraint-as-violence-in-middle-east-escalates-war-in-no-ones-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/04\/british-defense-chief-urges-restraint-as-violence-in-middle-east-escalates-war-in-no-ones-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"British defense chief urges \u2018restraint\u2019 as violence in Middle East escalates: War in \u2018no one\u2019s interest\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u2014 British Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps lamented the delicate state of the international security landscape as more voters than ever head to the polls in a potentially defining year for the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I just think that we need to wake up to the risks that exist,\u2019 Shapps said. \u2018So, we\u2019ve lived in a kind of a post-Cold War era in which we\u2019ve taken the peace dividend. Fine. But you can\u2019t carry on taking that same peace dividend whilst at the same time you\u2019ve got a very aggressive Russia right now. You see what Iran are doing and how they\u2019re increasing the tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u2018You\u2019ve got a very assertive North Korea with nuclear weapons,\u2019 he added. \u2018What happens when China is looking at all of this to see how the West responds? So, it seems obvious to me that what we need to do is make sure that we do not carry on trying to take a peace dividend that no longer exists.\u2019<\/p>\n

Shapps warned in his first major speech as defense minister the world might see conflict between the West and rival nations, including China, Russia, North Korea and Iran within the next five years, as tensions continue to ramp up in various regions, particularly and most recently the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Shapps noted that the state of the world remains in flux as more voters than ever head to the polls in a rare alignment of elections in dozens of major countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, the European Union, India, Mexico, Pakistan and many others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taiwan kicked off the election year with a historic third consecutive term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, beating China\u2019s implied favorite, the Kuomintang party. The shocks started the year before with an upset victory for Holland\u2019s Geert Wilders, who will become prime minister if he is able to form a cabinet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s obviously critical that we make sure that the world order in which billions of people actually get a good vote this year, 2024, 2 billion people will go and vote is the greatest Democratic year in history in that sense,\u2019 Shapps said in an interview before the U.S. initiated retaliatory airstrikes in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The potential to reshape the political balance of the majority of big players on the international scene will set the direction for many issues, including support for Ukraine in the third year of Russia\u2019s invasion, China\u2019s regional aggression and, most pressing, the escalation of violence in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. initiated airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria and Iraq following an attack in Jordan that killed three American service members. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revealed the strikes hit 85 targets at six locations in the first wave.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his interview with Fox News Digital, Shapps offered his condolences for the U.S. deaths and stressed that the U.K. wants to see \u2018restraint\u2019 from Iran and de-escalation. He cited the ongoing attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea and the attacks against American military personnel and assets as unacceptable actions Tehran has continued to endorse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018You cannot go about infringing on international waterways, freedom of navigation, and we call on Iran to step in there, but also with these militant groups,\u2019 Shapps said, noting that his stance follows continued joint statements between Washington, London and their allies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It is in no one\u2019s interest to see this grow as a regional conflict. So, of course, we are calling on everyone to show restraint.<\/p>\n

\u2018I want to see Lebanese Hezbollah stop,\u2019 he added. \u2018I want to see these Iran-backed militant groups stop, and, of course, most of all, we want to see an end to the conflict in Israel and Gaza as well, for which we need a bunch of preconditions like the hostages released, for example.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapps reiterated the British position seeking a two-state solution, which necessitates recognition of a Palestinian state, an option the Biden administration has reportedly started to explore as the president plans for the aftermath of the conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re going to have recognition of a Palestinian state, and that requires security guarantees to Israel as well, so that has to be the end state,\u2019 Shapps explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t think we could jump to that conclusion,\u2019 he warned. \u2018We have to see a bunch of things happening. First, a large number of agreements would need to go in place. That\u2019s where we want to end up getting. \u2026 Of course, it\u2019s said, much harder to do, but a good start would be for those hostages to be released and a sustainable cease-fire off the back of that.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapps highlighted 2024 as a pivotal year not just for the upcoming elections but the fragile state of conflicts such as Ukraine\u2019s defense against Russia. He suspected that Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to play \u2018the long game\u2019 and wait out the West, hoping it will \u2018get bored.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Will we turn our backs? Perhaps because of what\u2019s happening in the Middle East \u2026 maybe just because he thinks we won\u2019t have the stomach to support Ukraine until the end. So, I think 2024 is a really pivotal year,\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We have to essentially make the conscious decision. Are we in this for Ukraine to establish total sovereignty across all of Ukraine \u2026 or are we just going to say it\u2019s OK for a democratic neighbor to be invaded with all that read across to China and others will be looking at this,\u2019 he argued.<\/p>\n

\u2018North Korea, Iran and the situation we\u2019re seeing right now in the Middle East \u2026 China will draw their own conclusions when they\u2019re thinking about Taiwan and elsewhere,\u2019 Shapps stressed. \u2018We must wake up to the real threat that is posed, which is not just about Russia or Putin, but is about the entire world order.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2014 British Secretary of State for Defense Grant Shapps lamented the delicate state of the international security landscape as more voters than ever head to the polls in a potentially defining year for the world.\u00a0 \u2018I just think that we need to wake up to the risks that exist,\u2019 Shapps said. \u2018So, we\u2019ve lived in <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15087,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}