UK to move “into war-fighting readiness.” Please help me decode.

[NigellaWannabe1]

I’ve been following the development of various conflicts with increasing dread. Now this announcement from Keir Stammer - it sounds so ominous.

What's your take on it? I’d particularly welcome the perspective of those of you working in communications.

Starmer trying to get votes back from Reform by looking macho, I think.

I agree with this; take a pragmatic view, prepare, per this post. Don't go mad stripping shelves. Stash of cash tucked away.

Agreed.

It is widely recognised that Trump is right about Europe having freeloaded on American defence spending for decades. The US is no longer willing to bankroll Europe’s defence to the extent they have historically, so we (ie the U.K. and our European allies) have to pay ourselves. That is why defence spending is increasing massively. The point of this is to deter Putin and anyone else who might want to attack us.

It is widely recognised that Trump is right about Europe having freeloaded on American defence spending for decades.

Is it ?

We were spending enough for the US when NATO backed them after 9/11 without complaint.

And the US has benefited enormously from a stable Europe. It meant they could deliver democracy to South America and South East Asia.

I disagree strongly with the statement that we/Europe have been freeloading off the US. The US actively encouraged the situation for the best part of 80 years - it has meant they get to drive policy; they can funnel all the procurement through US companies; they get to have US personnel in bases across Europe (I live near 2 of them!) and spread their influence.

It started out after WWII as the US recognised that if they didn’t help Europe to rebuild, it could a) fall under the influence of the USSR or b) become a breeding ground for another Hitler. It was not in their interests to allow that to happen so they said “You guys spend all your money rebuilding society, we’ll even loan you some. Oh and don’t worry about defence, we’ll take care of that too.”

Should we have allowed the situation to get this far? Absolutely not. But don’t for a minute think we were somehow taking advantage of the US!

The US actively - and very forcefully - suggested that the UK abandon it's independent nuclear programme to buy Polaris (from the US).

France took a rather less trusting view, and as a result possesses it's own totally and utterly independent nuclear deterrent.

We still have no idea if we can launch ours without the say-so of the US. Yes, we've been told we could. However we've been told a lot of things that later turned out to be utter bollocks. So I'm not taking that on faith.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62v63gl8rvo

It's not just Keir.

Europe is expecting a war within the next next 5-10 years. Reading between the lines, sooner than later.

Jesus Christ why did we do that? Did no one think WTF we would do if in the future the US was on the other side to us?

That was a sarcastic 'deliver democracy to South America and South East Asia' right?

They haven't the money anyway. He's just trying to be an inspiring leader, like Churchhill.

@NewGirlInTown
"The enemy army is already here, thanks to the porous borders. Tens of thousands of young, fighting age men for whom violence comes easily. "

Yes. And there are millions distributed in every country in Europe except the Eastern European ones.

Starmer misses the glory days of ‘coalition of the willing’ and boots on the ground press already. A bit of war talk is a boost.

Agree on borders being barely there.

Russian bots will love this thread 🤖

Where has Putin stated he wants to expand into Europe? Its nonsense spread by Nato. There should be a negotiated peace to stop the needless slaughter on both sides

As others have said, it’s trump. Like a stopped clock is right twice a day,Trump is right that Europe needs to be responsible for its own defence. We’ve relied on the threat of Americas massive military to keep us safe.

The reality is we need more logistical capacity, Americas big war fighting advantage is the ability to move millions of tons of ammunition, food and spare parts rapidly. European armies already outnumber the Russians by a significant amount but we don’t have the logistical capacity we need. Hate to say it, if we want a mutual defence we are probably going to have to combine our logistics, naval power and airforces with Europe. Don’t tell frog face Farage that because he’ll use it to frighten the hard of thinking.

It’s nothing more than every country always needs to be ready.

Now without the US backing and the chance they’ll need nato we need to step it up.

We need our “enemies” to know we are stepping up too.

Readiness is the best defence. It doesn’t mean we are getting ready because of imminent war - it means we are ready if you risk starting one against us!

With all due respect to you, it is also widely recognised that anything that comes out of Trump's mouth is a monumental load of bollocks has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I agree that increased spending is needed, as a deterrent as much as anything.

Because no one ever thought the US would pull a stunt like this! Why would we, they've been dependable allies in this regard since the end of WWII, regardless of who is in the White House.

What Trump has ensured is that no one will ever trust the US again. It won't matter if the man (let's face it, i can't see them electing a woman for a very long time yet) behind the Resolute desk is the most trustworthy man to ever live - everyone will be thinking "What about the next guy? What if they choose another Trump?".

They just won't risk the change of it all being undone all over again.

Wait…. the US massively invested in Western European defence and infrastructure after the Second World War because it was afraid that communism would otherwise sweep over the whole continent, affecting its’ status as a world power. It was their decision to do that out of their own self interest. And it did create a very long period of peace and a good environment for global trade, from which the wealthy in the US have massively benefited. Their internal problems stem from Reaganism coming home to roost, but of course the blame is being deflected to other countries “freeloading” and “immigrants”.

Let’s not go down the path of pretending the US is a kindly benevolent uncle who is subject to elder abuse. The US has always only ever cared about itself. The only difference today under Trump is that the mask is off.
The European countries (and us here in Australia) all understand now that we are on our own now and that’s behind the defence review. Many US high government officials these days also think Russia is pretty cool and seem to be attempting to emulate a similar oligarchy type society, which is Reaganism ultra.

Hello Nigel, how’s the immigrant Mrs? Any chance you are going to Clacton any time soon?

How to say you don’t like brown people without actually saying you don’t like brown people.

Millions of immigrants of war fighting age? Muslims are 6% of the population, 50% of whom are women. 50% of whom are either too young or too old. About 25% of the Muslim population is of war fighting age.

The security services have done a great job of clamping down on the tiny minority that are actively engaged in terrorist activity, what’s the chance that they are going to miss a massive plot to take over the country.

I personally think that even if you want to stay out of war, you should prepare. Upping up defence measures means you are less likely to be invaded. The UK also imports most of its food. Where is it going to get it from if the world is embroiled in conflicts? The UK has to go on a war footing to plan that.
It’s not like life will remain the same if heads are buried in the sand and that the same lifestyle we live now will just continue. Supply chains are complicated and global - they will be disrupted and goods no longer available in shops.

I totally get that people don’t want to face that. But the world is crazy now with more strongmen, some of whom are either expansionalist or who want to change the world order in their favour. China and Russia are working together in that regard and the US doesn’t want to be bothered.

The phrase was ‘tens of thousands’ not millions… Specifically referring to the so-called ‘asylum seekers’ who travel through a dozen safe countries to get to Britain.

And telling posters “they just don’t like brown people” doesn’t work any more.

It did, for a while, when threats of being called ‘racist’ shut up the concerns of the indigenous population.
And to be specific, it’s an Islamist problem. A death cult, living in the Stone Age. Raping children, subjugating women and delighting in ‘martyrdom’.
Nice try though. 🙄

I suffer from terrible anxiety, but I don’t feel anxious about this. The current situation has highlighted how unprepared we are as we have totally slashed our defence budget over the years resulting in us being totally unprepared if anything were to happen.

They’re now putting together plans to fix that. Not because war is round the corner but because the heightened tensions have highlighted our deficiency x

This. The over-dependence on the US was never a good idea, and the war in Ukraine and Trump have simply brought that forward.

Re the "island nation" defense, if there's war in Europe, the Russians won't need to invade Britain. Instead, they'll destroy key ports, energy infrastructure, and communications nodes. That will take the UK out of the fight.