Vladimir Putin is apparently going to use next weekend’s celebration of the Soviet (and Allied) defeat of the Nazis in 1945 to showcase the launch of the world’s most formidable tank, the Russian T14 Armata. This tank is evidently far superior to anything possessed by the West and its launch comes at a time when Russian military expenditure has reached levels greater than any since the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991.

It’s funny how history repeats itself and no matter how far we may think we have developed or how much we may think things have changed they often remain constant. In the 19^th century the British Empire and Russia were deadly rivals and although that rivalry only came to open warfare once (the Crimean War, 1853-6) Russian imperialism was a huge threat throughout that century to Britain’s imperial and economic interests.

Of course, the Empire is long gone and Great Britain is no longer a major player but the Russian threat  remains, as events in Crimea and Ukraine have clearly demonstrated over the last couple of years. Modern politicians would do well to heed the words of Lord Palmerston, British Prime Minister who warned over 150 years ago that,

“The policy and practice of the Russian Government has always been to push forward its encroachments as fast and as far as the apathy or want of firmness of other Governments would allow it to go, but always to stop and retire when it met with decided resistance and then to wait for the next favourable opportunity.”

A copy of this speech should be sent to President Obama and to all those in the West who think that Putin’s Russia can be mollified by platitudes and appeasement. “Decided resistance” and not “apathy or want of firmness” is clearly required as much in the 21^st century as it was two centuries earlier.