Grant Shapps is right – the world must do all it can to avoid a global conflict

Editorial: Europe, Japan, South Korea, the Gulf states and others must be bound together much more closely in economic, diplomatic and military solidarity, and all must contribute to the cost of collective security

Grant Shapps said that ‘we find ourselves at the dawn of a new era’ and that we are ‘moving from a post-war to a pre-war world’ (BBC)

In a remarkably candid speech the other day, defence secretary Grant Shapps, reflecting on the conflicts that have built up around the world since the end of the Cold War, said that “we find ourselves at the dawn of a new era” and that we are “moving from a post-war to a pre-war world”.

It was intended as a warning, if not an apocalyptic prophecy – but it was, if anything, understated, and it already feels out of date. The war in Ukraine is, after all, almost two years old, with little sign of an early conclusion – and Europe feels threatened. It is also more than three months since Hamas launched its war on Israel, and Israel responded with unprecedented (and often disproportionate) force.

Again, there is no early end in sight, and Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to continue the conflict and reject the principle of Palestinian statehood has exacerbated tensions once again. That conflict has spread to Yemen, where Houthi forces – effectively a de facto government in much of that country – have waged a sporadic war against international shipping in the Red Sea, in support of Hamas.