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The big question is what comes next, because the sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil are a noticeable blow to Russia. In some ways, we can already see their impact, as Indian and Chinese refineries are also more cautious about purchasing Russian oil. The essential question is whether Trump really wants to keep up the pressure on Moscow or whether it was just a sudden outburst of anger. And this leads to another dilemma: will there be further sanctions against refineries that continue to buy oil from Lukoil or Rosneft when the grace period expires at the end of November? It is still difficult to say how serious Trump is, but sooner or later it will have to become clear."

It's organised chaos, it's a collection of activities that could be carried out under a single command and it is just there to slowly drip away at our society on a daily basis and really undermine our society, undermine the fabric of society."

Ed Arnold, senior research fellow for European security at the Royal United Services Institute, was more damning. He said that while JEF [Joint Expeditionary Force] is “naturally placed to step up” it “has never really managed to articulate its purpose” and “needs to get its mojo back.” He's calling for a long-term strategy for the force which would give it the resources and the attention currently devoted to the Coalition of the Willing, which sprung up amid European nerves about Trump's commitment to Ukraine.