baldysblog.co.uk

Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Policy’

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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There was an interesting piece in the Independent concerning the murder of 10 Charity Workers in Afghanistan: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-aid-workers-and-armed-force-2047112.html

Whilst the British Media will inevitably concentrate on the one Briton killed, the following quote from this article, does provoke some thought:

“But the dependence of aid workers on the military for security, and the reliance of the military on aid organisations for the civilian reconstruction projects that are vital to winning over the local population, make for a volatile mix that risks endangering all concerned.”

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The current ‘big story’ is the leaking of some 90,000 US documents on the Wikileaks website concerning the Afghan War between 2004 and 2009 and revealing many, previously unreported incidents which amount to ‘collateral damage’ or, the killing of innocent civilians by ISAF Forces whilst conducting military operations. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10758578

For all the ‘noises’ made by all concerned, I do not think that this material will make one iota of difference because there is absolutely no ‘amazing revelations’ of say a “My Lai Massacre ”. Though many no doubt will seek, incorrectly to say the killing of people at a wedding party by bombs or missiles is the same which clearly it is not. Poor or bad intelligence does not equate to an Officer losing control of his men and they, then going on a deliberate killing rampage of the people in front of them.

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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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There is a piece in the Sunday Telegraph today following their questioning of various Economists which produced a majority view that suggests that the Euro as a currency, is likely to cease to exist within the next 5 years and possibly sooner: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/7806064/Euro-will-be-dead-in-five-years.html

Obviously this has been bought about by the Greek crisis in particular and the state of the PIIGS generally however, it represents a far more interesting illustration of a fundamental flaw with the whole idea of the EU and in particular, the rather dubious methods employed by those who see themselves as the “Ruling Elite of Europe” to further their Federalist aims, one hears the distant rumble of the Tumbrils in the streets…

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I am no economist and would not claim to understand the intricacies of this kind of fiscal deal over another but there does come a time when common sense rather than “technical sophistication” should and must takeover. Such a time seems fast approaching for the current situation over the Euro.

There is an interesting article in the Times today concerning Greece: “The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), a London-based consultancy, has warned Greek ministers they will be unable to escape their debt trap without devaluing their own currency to boost exports. The only way this can happen is if Greece returns to its own currency.” Worth checking it out.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article7140270.ece

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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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Although I might find what happens in other Countries objectionable, it has often occurred to me that the constant bitching about what happens in China, Burma, Iran and many others is little short of hypocritical In the sense that coming from the Western countries, it assumes that there is only “one way” that things should be done, “Our Way” which is total nonsense.

Today the 53 year old Akmal Shaikh, a British citizen was executed by the Chinese for trying to smuggle 4 Kilos of Heroin into China 2 years ago which is fair enough 50g is enough in most Far Eastern Countries to face the Death Penalty. Drugs are a problem there and the penalties are commiserate, just because you are a Westerner does not excuse you for breaking their Laws, you get the same sentence as a Chinese person would, it is their Country. When in Rome…

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