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Archive for the ‘Defence’ Category

By and large, I have always been of the view that it makes sense to replace the Trident Missile Submarines when required which is, I understand, in about 20 years time however and such is the gestation period of these things, we must start now. True, given the parlous state of the UK Finances, better not to have to find the estimated £20 billion cost but…

It should be the purpose of any personal blog to explore and consider ‘ideas’ that are outside of the mainstream or at the very least, “question” the current perceived wisdom. Wednesday bought the following: “The government should scale back the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent to save money, a think tank has said. The Royal United Services Institute urged ministers to consider dropping the requirement of always having a nuclear submarine on patrol at sea.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10784192

This has prompted a number of thoughts…

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Last Saturday, I attended the Fairford “Air Tattoo” and what a splendid event it was with hours of continuous flying marred only by taking an hour and a half, to get out of the car park after the ‘show’ and despite delaying departure for a couple of hours after flying ceased still, there you go…!

However and in the run up to Farnborough and defence spending reviews, a number of ‘issues’ have come increasingly into focus via the Media and especially a ‘bete-noir’ of mine, the willingness of Governments to spend on high cost capital projects whilst ignoring the ‘military realities’ of the PBI – Poor Bloody Infantry. A very interesting article in the Telegraph, is worth reading: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamescorum/100047944/americas-armed-forces-are-at-breaking-point-its-time-for-a-republican-fightback/

But I want to both use that whilst taking the ‘concept’ further…

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Is it me or are ‘commentators’ totally weird ? Since it was announced that British Forces would hand over Sangin to US Marines, there have been so many ‘Defeat’ articles as to be unbelievable. One in the Independent was by some ‘Nut Job’ who has written a book on Iraq:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/richard-north-another-halfhearted-war-another-defeat-2023711.html

To me, the most worrying thing about our deployment in Afghanistan is how we got to this point. Nine years ago, SAS and SBS units helping the “Northern Alliance” was about right but John Reid as Defence Secretary casually starting this deployment with a public view expressed in The Commons, that they (troops), “Will probably come home without a shot being fired…” is indicative of where we are today and how we got there, we got here via complacency.

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When I started this blog back in November 2007, I had in mind two personal priorities: Firstly and along with my photography, it was a ‘tool’ to keep my intellect ‘alive’ by taking the current news topics and writing a personal view upon them.

Secondly and coming from an IT background I wanted to know in personal terms, whilst it is easy to start a ‘blog’ or put up a web site in the first place, the real question is whether or not you can ‘sustain’ it ? Well, coming up for some 600 ‘postings’ less than three years later seems to indicate that I have lots of ‘Hot Air’ yet to expel !

The one thing that I really didn’t care about, both then and now is whether anybody actually read the stuff I published and indeed, few have posted comments, less than 300 but it seems to be read by many, but most popular by far, there has been almost 20,000 spam mails !

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With the current state of the Public Finances, it is obvious that all Government Departments will come under very heavy pressure to reduce their spending and historically, Defence has always been seen as a ‘soft target’ for politicians, let us hope not, this time around. Just like at the end of the Cold War, people looked for a “Peace Dividend”, there really never is one because “If you want peace then, you must prepare for war” and that is still true to this day.

The real questions must hinge around defining accurately what our “Defence Posture” should be and why. This approach must be stuck to and regardless of the current economic problems because too often in the past, a cash figure seems to have been struck first and then our Armed Forces ‘squeezed’ to fit it which is obviously, the wrong way round.

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With a new Government and the inevitable trip by Senior politicians to our troops in Helmand Province the question looms large as to what we are doing there and just how quickly we can get out. New Government, new look but alas, I doubt any new answers, for now Afghanistan is as devoid of new solutions as reforming the House of Lords is.

We walked blindly into this Afghanistan deployment, remember the famous statement by John Reid, doing his stint at the MOD that likely, our troops would return”without a shot being fired” and over 200 lives lost later, they are still heavily engaged.

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One of the oddest issues to come out of the current election campaign was raised by Nick Clegg who wants the Trident Replacement included in the Defence Review that will have to be undertaken after the General Election, whoever forms the next Government.

Although one may say that because of the projected cost, some £20bn, of course any politician would want to review it but then again and as Clegg seems to accept the need for a replacement but then strays into technical areas he is not competent in, he is raising the wrong issue or, not asking the right questions…

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Much as I am fond of the US and its people, there are times when I do rather despair of the total naivety of some of them always demanding a black and white answer when the reality is nothing but a spectrum of greys going from black to white. A classic example of this was in Time magazine which I currently get on a weekly basis.

The question supposedly asked by Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call when I want to call Europe ?” Today as then and perhaps more so from a US perspective in these difficult times, the US wants to feel that there is a natural partner in the EU to help share the load but they really do need to wake up on this one because it is just never going to happen. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1967702,00.html

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There was an Editorial in the Independent today that whilst calling for a Defence Review ended with saying that “obviously” we should cooperate with Europe more on Defence. It amazes me that supposedly intelligent people can’t grasp basic facts and realise that they are looking down the wrong end of the ruddy telescope.

It is not just about Defence, it is about every aspect of major Government spending and Health is a good example. The Labour reforms in funding of the NHS were first trialled in Scotland, much of the additional funding ended up being spent on increased wages not improved outcomes.

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There was an interesting article written by a former soldier in the Independent calling on the public to have a vote on going to war or not: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/crispin-black-voters-must-decide-when-we-go-to-war-1830423.html

However it is nonsense because if Parliament is in thrall to the Executive, which given the rise of the “Career Politician” it is, we need to look at the Separation of Powers and a strengthening of the role of the MP and Parliamentary Committees as a check on the Executive and, other sanctions the electorate can directly impose on sitting MPs if they fail in their duties not, specific decisions.

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