Excellent absorbing interview to support the essay published today. Knowledgable, intelligent, illuminating and impartial discussion. Well done Freddie and Aris.

War is a complicated picture. Should, morally, Britain have declared war on both Hitler and Stalin in September, 1939? Both Germany and the Soviet Union had the previous month signed the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to carve up Poland between them: Stalin’s army entering Poland a short time after the German invasion. Indeed, both armies met up and shook hands at the agreed dividing line. (I think there are photos to also prove that). I have no idea what the British cabinet’s opinion was when it learned of the SU’s advance from the east. Did Goebbels, the German minister for propaganda, make hay through his publicity organs of British double standards, or of Britain’s weakness or of its cowardliness in not squaring up to Russia? Maybe Britain did square up to the Soviets. Was the ambassador given a dressing down? At 3am in his dressing gown? But I have never come across what the official British line was, or was hinted at, in relation to the SU by late September, 1939. Not even in some old WW2 movie or whatever. Did Germany accuse Britain of just wanting to be nasty to Germany? Okay, Britain’s beef had been for a few years with Germany. But was Stalin given a stern rebuke? I suppose I’ll have to trudge out and buy a book. Or just look it up, on the google.

Let’s be clear: Ukraine was a sovereign nation just minding its own business like everyone else. Like Poland in 1939.

Well done, thank you.