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Britain calls Putin's invasion of Ukraine a major ‘strategic error’

The A news reported, the British foreign minister for Europe and North America said in Chicago this week that Russian President Vladimir Putin committed a major "strategic error" in believing his invasion of Ukraine would fragment Western democracies.
Instead, Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said, Putin saw the NATO alliance and allied countries unite against Russian aggression in a sign of democracy's resilience.
"Democracy is messy. Democracy is untidy, and to an autocratic leader like Putin, it probably always looks as if it's on the verge of collapse," Cleverly, the British equivalent of U.S. secretary of state, said in an interview in Chicago with the Tribune on Wednesday (Apr 13).
"I think Putin read all the wrong lessons from the natural processes that liberal democracies go through — the elections, the criticism," Cleverly said. "He was clearly not listening to the people who should know better or didn't know better and pursued this ego-driven attack on Ukraine. And then, when the messy, untidy democracies of the liberal world saw what happened, instead of falling apart like he thought we would, we pull together because that's what we do."

Cleverly's visit to Chicago was part of a tour, which that also included stops in Washington, D.C., Missouri and Minnesota, aimed at solidifying the United Kingdom's preexisting relationships in an "really scary time" amid a backdrop of pandemic and war.
As to whether allied nations are doing enough to help Ukraine, Cleverly said, "We need to give the Ukrainians the tools to push back and push back hard against the Russian invasion so that Putin is forced to engage properly with peace talks in a way that at this moment, up until this point, he hasn't been."
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At the same time, Cleverly said, it was "incumbent upon us all to highlight to the Russian people the horrors that are being perpetrated in their name, that they don't know about, and they currently are being lied to systematically by their own national leadership."
"How this is resolved, ultimately, must be guided heavily by the Ukrainians. This is their nation. They are the ones who will decide when they would accept a peace settlement ... and what the terms are. They're the ones that will have to live with it," he said. "Zelensky is not going to roll over. He's not going to take a bad deal. We need to make sure, again echoing Winston Churchill, we need to give him the tools to get the job done."
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Cleverly said, but as the war in Ukraine continues, there also will be a price paid by the citizens of Western democracies over trying to rein in Russian aggression.
He said: "I think we need to recognize that there is a bill to be paid and we are seeing this across the Western world — food prices going up, gas prices are going up — and those increases are a direct result of Putin's invasion of Ukraine."
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He said: "Now, both in Washington and Westminster and in capital cities around the world, we're going to have to do whatever we can to try and mitigate those pressures to try and help people get to work and fill their shopping trolleys and that's not going to be easy. But the simple truth is that these pressures became inevitable the day that that war started."
Source: anews
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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