Sarah Harte: Race to re-arm means avoiding groupthink has never been more crucial

This anxious time of turmoil threatens to sweep us all into a new wave of militarism. We must avoid being caught up in the tide 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, right, with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrive for an EU Summit in Brussels last week. President Ursula von der Leyen said: 'Our European values — democracy, freedom, and the rule of law — are under threat.' Photo: AP/Omar Havana

We live in a time of turning points. The war in Ukraine and the Russian threat are clear turning points. A disengaged America means a different Europe, but what the new Europe should look like needs discussion. 

As citizens, we have the right to question the role of our government, particularly in challenging times. An unthinking deference to the crowd's wisdom about the necessity to re-arm or, in our case, to ‘arm’ is unwise.