We need to find ways to reduce tension, not enflame it.
Public figures, including MPs of both the main political parties, are falling over themselves to convince us that the world is now a dangerous place, full of threats to our security and way of life. Defence spending should increase they say. UK defence secretary Grant Shapps has even suggested that we are moving ‘from a post-war to a pre-war world.’ One of the conclusions in my recent book On the Warpath is that the perception of threat, encouraged by politicians and the media, is one of the principal factors that can lead us to war. We must therefore resist these hawkish pronouncements if we want to preserve peace. We need to find ways to reduce tension, not enflame it.