Superb essay. The arrogance and ineptitude of British, European and American political elites who have spent the past 4.5 years professing their support for Ukraine is staggering. Rather than recognising February 2022 as a decisive turning point in European history, they doubled down on the very same failed assumptions and policies that had left the West so vulnerable in the first place. From energy and industrial policy to immigration and border control, they failed to recognise how their own decisions were weakening Western power at its foundations and eroding public confidence in the political establishment. In doing so, they helped to create the ideal political conditions in which movements such as MAGA in America, Weidel in Germany and Le Pen’s National Rally in France could gain support, including for positions that now seriously threaten the West’s commitment to Ukraine. The tragedy is that much of this was foreseeable and avoidable. Defending Ukraine required more than declarations of solidarity. It required rebuilding the economic and military foundations of Western power and sustaining public consent for a prolonged confrontation with Russia.