Even though he was physically recuperating at his farm, Russell remained keenly interested in current affairs. He anticipated the postwar recovery of Germany and also the increased presence of Japan in world affairs and argued New Zealand needed to be prepared. He became the president of the National Defence League (NDL), which agitated for improved defensive arrangements in response to the New Zealand government's trimming of its expenditure on the military. The NDL also promoted the idea of a "White New Zealand", a bastion of Western civilisation in the South Pacific that should be resistant to immigrants from Asian countries.