“Putin will lose and deservedly so… Russian exports of military equipment will be affected… and the war in Ukraine will strengthen China…” – Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made three predictions on the fifth and final day of the year seeking a stronger economic, political and military ties between the United Kingdom and India.
Johnson – who stepped down as prime minister at the start of July – also spoke about the pending free trade deal between the two countries, saying the deal had “mysteriously developed a flat tire since I left office”. Noting the threats from climate change, Covid and “authoritarian” regimes, he said: “We have to get on with it because the threat has increased”. The Conservative MP also spoke about Brexit, the UK immigration debate and China, calling the Asian country a “huge reality in our lives” and stressing that Delhi and London must find a way to work with Beijing.
“We live in dangerous times… even though the UK and India are not bound by family and sentiment, trade and commerce, economic self-interest… we are drawn together because of the irresponsible behavior of some people.” of the world’s (most) dangerous autocracies”. On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — a “special military operation” launched by President Vladimir Putin in February that shows no signs of winding down — Johnson then made his three predictions.
“Firstly… Putin will lose. He will be deservedly defeated by the sheer heroics of patriotism (demonstrated) by the Ukrainian people. I can tell you that the UK will continue to support them – economically, politically and militarily – until they” take back their country, he said. The former British prime minister blasted Putin as a “master of propaganda” and warned that he would eventually spin his “certain” defeat as a victory for Russia, saying he expected the Russians to swallow the narrative.
“Secondly… Russian exports of military equipment will be badly affected worldwide because of what is happening (in Ukraine). It is a disastrous advertisement for the Russian war machine. It turns out that 60 percent of the precision missiles are duds – that’s less more accurate than my first serve in tennis. Chinese-made tires exploding under Russian armored cars,” he sneered. Johnson also pointed out that Russia – which exports billions in arms to India – had failed to control Ukrainian airspace despite being outnumbered.
“Third is that across Asia this catastrophic miscalculation on Putin’s part will seriously weaken Russia and strengthen China. We can already see this happening in Uzbekistan and throughout the former Soviet Union and beyond. The bear is looking increasingly abandoned and abandoned.” He also called Putin a “punk of (Chinese President) Xi Jinping” and said Russia was “powered by an assertive giant kung fu panda (a reference to China)”.
“I would say that with the tensions that we’re seeing in the APAC (Asia Pacific) region and the obvious correlation with what’s happening in Ukraine and Taiwan in the South China Sea … it’s increasingly important that we two democracies work together . for our economic health and collective stability.”
Johnson said that this collaboration was already in place and pointed to the collaboration between India and Great Britain in the production of Covid vaccines as an example. The AztraZeneca vaccine was developed by British scientists at the University of Oxford and mass-produced by the Serum Institute in Pune. The former British prime minister also pointed to China’s “zero Covid” policy – which has been heavily criticized – to quell suggestions “that democracies are not as good as authoritarian regimes at dealing with the pandemic”.
“It was our two democracies that came together to distribute billions of vaccine doses around the world,” Johnson said, declaring, “I personally am the beneficiary of the AstraZeneca masala.” In the closing debate on increasing trade between the UK and India, Johnson reminded the audience that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided on Diwali (24 October) in April. “Prime Minister Modi and I said Diwali will do it. I wonder what the delay is… the possibilities (of cooperation) are huge, but we have to go ahead because the threat has increased. I know the Modi government wants it.. . and I know that my government wants it too,” he concluded.
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