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Posts Tagged ‘USA’

Although to be expected from a left leaning newspaper written by and for the “Chattering Metropolitan Classes”, there was an interesting Editorial in the Independent on whether capturing Osama Bin Laden would have been better than shooting him and then burying him at sea. Whilst I think that the Americans were correct, it is a valid question to raise: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-nagging-questions-that-refuse-to-go-away-2278947.html

If you read the article, do read the comments from readers, we seem to have our fair share of ‘conspiracy theorists’ here in the UK today.

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The saying, “War is too important to be left to the Generals” probably also applies to Constitutions and Politicians. Constitutional change is far too important to be left to the politicians, they just don’t seem to have a clue and certainly lack the intellectual rigour to suggest anything remotely workable.

This Thursday we have local council elections down here but also, the Referendum on changing the voting system from First Past the Post to the Alternative Vote. Funny how a Coalition Agreement can conjure that up when herds of wild stallions couldn’t get the greasy buggers to give us a Referendum on the EU !

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Although I often find even the European edition of Time magazine, far too “American” in terms of its content, from time to time, there are some really excellent articles and this past weekends edition is a case in point particularly with regard to Defence Spending. Entitled “How to Save a Trillion Dollars”, it is well worth reading: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2065108,00.html

Those who know me, might well say that I liked this article because it accords with many of the views I have been expressing and particularly with regard to Aircraft Carriers for some years now. However, I would suggest that it is far more than that because throughout history, there comes a moment in time when military thinking needs a radical overhaul, I would suggest that we have reached that point right now.

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An interesting story that will not doubt take time to evolve and will not be simple to resolve, concerns the recent events in Libya. However, the diplomatic efforts by Lebanon, France and the UK to get a “No Fly” Resolution passed at the UN deserve much praise as does US restraint so that the regional voices could come to the fore. One suspects that we have the US to also thank for the extensive writ for “All Means short of occupation” to enforce this Resolution.

Within the UK and despite much sneering initially, David Cameron having stuck to his guns, has done himself no harm by showing clear leadership on this matter and although it may not surface immediately, the “real story” concerning William Hague’s role in events will be interesting to discover, I suspect it will be far more positive than some in the Media will like.

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It was interesting to me, at least to see a contributor to the Independent newspaper finally, picking up on Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings shortly before leaving Office as the US President.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ike-was-right-all-along-the-danger-of-the-militaryindustrial-complex-2186133.html

Although the article was interesting, it was written for the wrong reasons by someone who seems oblivious to the political realities at play here (Rupert Cornwell). The “Industrial/Military Complex” that Eisenhower pointed to in the US has some resonance in the UK but not quite in the same way and it is important to understand the differences and from that, the way forward in looking at this problem.

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There seems to be a general assumption that “The West” is in a terminal decline and that the “Power Base” for the future will inevitably be centred on China and India. Evidence for this is pointed to in both the outcome of the US Mid-Term elections and the UK and France rather hastily, it seems signing defence treaties on sharing Aircraft Carriers, other military assets and nuclear weapons research.

But a “Decline of the West…” I’m not sure that is correct because I don’t think that it is that simple. I would agree that the US Mid-Term results and the Anglo-French Treaties do represent an all too obvious loss of national certainty and self-confidence by the countries involved. Following the virtual collapse of our financial system of recent times, the “Capitalist System” that defeated Communism, a bit of humility would seem appropriate along with the realisation that nothing is a universal panacea and change is the only constant.

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Yesterday we had the US Mid-Term elections for Congress and State Governorships which this morning and as expected has led to the Democrats losing control of the House of Representatives but retaining control of the Senate. In the run up to these elections it was obvious that the Obama Administration was due for a bit of a ‘kicking’.

The funny thing is looking at the responses from the Right Wing in this country as if it proves anything but then I suspect, people will always seize upon other’s agendas as ‘proof’ of their own cause albeit that things are rather different.

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I found this totally funny- the story that Andrew Marr speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on how technology is changing the way people receive news, “blasted bloggers” as: “…socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother’s basements.”

He added: “Many of us are angry people at times. Some of us are angry and drunk. But the so-called citizen journalism is the… rantings of very drunk people late at night. It is fantastic at times but it is not going to replace journalism.” The following link from the Independent is worth following, not for the news story but rather the readers comments it attracted:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/online/marr-hits-out-at-angry-rantings-of-drunk-bloggers-2103981.html

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I suspect that the “Media Honeymoon” over the Coalition Government will soon come to an end as the reporting over these past few days seems to signal. Though not, I might add because serious questions are being raised by Government policies, it is not the way the British Media works.

The problem for media people is that they are reactive to events not proactive. “No news”, or even worse, “Good news” is bad for business, there is just no ‘story’ to chase so in the end these “media children” will… Well we all know what the Devil does in making work for idle hands… so, the media will get restless and like children on a journey, keep asking“Are we there yet ?”

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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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