Article #3944

Representatives from numerous international militaries will meet in London on Thursday, says UK prime minister

Few resonant phrases are repeated in politics without a deliberate reason, and Keir Starmer’s use of “coalition of the willing” could well have been intended as a reminder to the US diplomatic and defence community: we helped you out; now return the favour.

The most famous, or infamous, coalition of the willing was the 30 nations who publicly gave at least some support to George W Bush’s US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Absolutely we are not against sending Italian troops to help a population, but I think at this moment probably there are no troops that are able to solve the problem in Ukraine.

We can only send troops if there is a clear UN mandate and for now, this is impossible.”

I think it is too early and we have to wait for it. After a decision from UN headquarters, there is no problem for Italy, but now it’s really, really too early for us.”