Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
ON MAY 6 Nato security-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met at the organisations headquarters to sign a new agreement on co-operation.
Both stated that Nato and Japan were “natural partners” and both drew paralells between the situations in Ukraine and the East and South China Seas.
Following the US lead, Rasmussen welcomed Abe’s offer that Japan’s military should play a greater role regionally and internationally and went on to declare that “the security and stability in the Euro-Atlantic and Asia-Pacific regions cannot be treated separately.” Both pledged to address global security challenges together in times of crisis.
In a speech to the 12th Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, SEVIM DAGDELEN warns of a growing historical revisionism to whitewash Germany and Japan’s role in WWII as part of a return to a cold war strategy from the West — but multipolarity will win out
From 35,000 troops in Talisman Sabre war games to HMS Spey provocations in the Taiwan Strait, Labour continues Tory militarisation — all while claiming to uphold ‘one China’ diplomatic agreements from 1972, reports KENNY COYLE
JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war
While Trump praises the ‘successful’ attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the question arises as to the real motives behind this escalation. MARC VANDEPITTE explores the issues


