Bangladesh, June 4 -- The United Kingdoms latest Strategic Defence Review, unveiled this week, paints a stark and unsettling picture of a Western world on edge. Commissioned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following his election in July last year, the review is not merely a blueprint for military modernization-it is a clarion call for a wholesale reimagining of national defense strategy in an age where traditional deterrents seem increasingly obsolete. In essence, it reflects a growing recognition among policymakers that the geopolitical landscape is shifting dangerously and that the West is, by many measures, exposed and unprepared.

British officials made little effort to mask the gravity of the situation. Declarations that a “new ...