Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad, is a quote widely attributed to Euripides —but although the attribution is incorrect, the accuracy of this ancient saying is as valid as ever. Who else but a madman would cut a government’s defence budget and then demand that that same military force engage in ever-more wildly increasing foreign military exercises?
The increasing disconnect between Westminster politicians, how much taxpayers’ money they have, and their insane delusions of world grandeur was the topic of a recent talk by the Chief of the Defence Staff, and head of the British Armed Forces, General Sir David Richards, at a lecture to Oxford University’s Department of Politics and International Relations.
In somewhat of an understatement, General Richards said that he was “worried that the Royal Navy did not have enough warships to fulfil its orders properly,” and pointed out that budget cuts had made it impossible for the army to “maintain “Britain’s world influence.”
The Navy has no working aircraft carrier and its surface fleet is based on six destroyers and 13 frigates.
He cited the Navy’s Operation Atalanta to counter piracy in the Indian Ocean. A lack of ships has forced admirals to use the most advanced warships for relatively simple operations, the general said.
“You get to this ridiculous situation where in Operation Atalanta off the Somali coast, we have £1?billion destroyers trying to sort out pirates in a little dhow with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] costing $50, with an outboard motor [costing] $100,” he said. “That can’t be good. We’ve got to sort it out.”
He said however that “ministers had cut the Armed Forces’ numbers and resources without reducing their demands for operations.
“We have a whole load of tasks expected of us. Our political masters are quite happy to reduce the size of the Armed Forces, but their appetite to exercise influence on the world stage is, quite understandably, the same as it has always been.
“Often politicians say to me, ‘Can you go and do this?’ I say to them, ‘With what?’?”
Suggesting that the situation was unsustainable, he added: “If you reduce your Armed Forces, there is going to be a give — something gives.”
He also said that the “mission in Afghanistan” was not going well, and that Western leaders had “collectively failed” by wasting the opportunity won by years of costly military operations.
He also admitted failings in the conduct of the military operations: “This is not a model of how to conduct a counter insurgency operation.”
Several important points arise from this lecture:
1. Just why Britain should have “world influence” when domestically, the country is in tatters, was of course a topic beyond General Richard’s remit.
2. The foreign wars are, almost without exception, nothing to do with Britain’s security and everything to do with protecting Israel.
3. British armed forced should only be used to defend Britain, and not be used for extravagant, unnecessary, and as General Richard has now admitted, unwinnable foreign conflicts.
Yet still, the delusion goes on.
VoidPhilla
- Edit
I think the idea in the above foto comes from “Mr & Mrs Smith” (film).
As for the disconnect, it’s hardly surprising as our parasitic political class have usually never done a real job in their lives & operate in a bubble of fake democracy where nothing is real.
If they believe in what they’re doing, they must deluded to the point of mental illness or just cynically in it for the money & privilege.