India, April 3 -- On April 1, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer made an address to his nation about the ongoing war in West Asia. His message could not have been clearer. "This is not our war. We will not be drawn into the conflict. That is not in our national interest", he said. Many other European head of states have echoed similar sentiments.

Starmer might not have intended it. But his remarks came exactly 44 years after another war when Britain and US took, unlike today, aligned, positions. On April 2, 1982, after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in South America, Britain fought a ten-week undeclared war with Argentina to reclaim what it believed was its rightful territory. The US, under Ronald Reagan, first tried a mediation...