Page 5 | "UK must actively prepare for war"

RealPerson · 2025-09-05T19:07:29+00:00

The government has said, "For the first time in many years, there is a need to prepare for direct threats to the UK homeland, potentially in a wartime scenario" I have been thinking about a potential nuclear war with people living through it. It seems to be a topic that is no longer categorized as a sci- fi storyline. AIBU ?

MissConductUS · 06/09/2025 18:02

ladsladzladse · 06/09/2025 13:43

This isn't a distraction; it's a change in strategy that was announced back in June.

Resources are being focused on preparing for direct attacks on the UK, including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sea and air incursions, assassinations, deliberate disruptions of resource chains (food, energy), weaponisation of flashpoint issues (all already happening) as well as the more remote-seeming possibility of an actual land invasion, drone bombing campaign, or nuclear attack. The goal is to create not just working defenses but also deterrents and increased public awareness. Starmer also probably means to both strengthen the overall position and perception of NATO and position the UK as a NATO leader (we haven't yet arrived at the part of Project 2025 where the USA withdraws from NATO, but given what we've seen from Washington it's reasonable to expect that it's coming). This is a real shift as since the end of the "Cold War" the focus has mainly been on foreign aid, development aid, and supporting international responses abroad (Afghanistan, Iraq, UN "peacekeeping").

Is he overreacting/misdirecting? Look at what we've seen since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine: traditionally neutral countries (Sweden, Finland) joining NATO, countries far from meeting the accession criteria desperate to join (Ukraine, Moldova), Poland shifting resources massively to prioritise rapid large-scale military growth, Germany accelerating its post-"Cold War" switch back to an aggressive military policy, Lithuania taking Belarus to the ICJ for weaponising migration, Hungary accepting a one million Euro fine per day as the price of protecting its borders, the USA weaponising tariffs to influence not just "bad actors" but anyone who does business with them. And most recently, Putin's high-profile charm offensive in Shanghai with unlikely co-stars Xi, Modi, and Kim. It's natural to be cautious or even anxious about the UK's shift, but I don't think anyone really feels that the previous strategy was adequate.

As for people who won't lift a finger to defend the UK - fair enough, but again, look at eastern Ukraine. People there may indeed be fighting for their country and flag and identity but even without those, they'd be fighting to stay alive and protect their families.

I agree with almost everything you've said, with one quibble. Project 2025 doesn't call for the US withdrawal from NATO. You might expect that it does, given its focus on a more America centric foreign policy, but it does not.

NATO is useful to the US, in that peace in Europe benefits us as well. And if we have to fight the Russians, it's better to do so there rather than here. The problem has been the grinding, never ending cuts to European defense capabilities since the end of the cold war. The US can't be expected to provide such a disproportionately large share of European defenses.

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 06/09/2025 20:20

GasperyJacquesRoberts · 06/09/2025 16:54

If that is the case, why has Russia struggled so badly in Ukraine, a country with which it has a direct border? And if Russia's army can't annex Ukraine and its navy is a disparate collection of rust barely able to float, what credible military threat does Russia really pose to the rest of Europe?

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I sometimes wonder that too, but NATO chiefs and German defense minister Pistorius and Macron and Kaja Kallas are all very clear that within 5 years Russia can be a very credible military threat.

40% of their total budget is a LOT. They are also on increasingly good terms with China and India. They are getting the electronics they need for military manufacturing still from the West via third party imports, and from China.

They have been making new factories and they are heavily indoctrinating their population, controlling access to outside information more and more heavily and the Baltic countries, to be frank, are scared. So honestly, while it looks surprising, it seems that the fears are to be taken seriously and the threat is real.

Midnights68 · 06/09/2025 20:27

ladsladzladse · 06/09/2025 13:43

This isn't a distraction; it's a change in strategy that was announced back in June.

Resources are being focused on preparing for direct attacks on the UK, including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, sea and air incursions, assassinations, deliberate disruptions of resource chains (food, energy), weaponisation of flashpoint issues (all already happening) as well as the more remote-seeming possibility of an actual land invasion, drone bombing campaign, or nuclear attack. The goal is to create not just working defenses but also deterrents and increased public awareness. Starmer also probably means to both strengthen the overall position and perception of NATO and position the UK as a NATO leader (we haven't yet arrived at the part of Project 2025 where the USA withdraws from NATO, but given what we've seen from Washington it's reasonable to expect that it's coming). This is a real shift as since the end of the "Cold War" the focus has mainly been on foreign aid, development aid, and supporting international responses abroad (Afghanistan, Iraq, UN "peacekeeping").

Is he overreacting/misdirecting? Look at what we've seen since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine: traditionally neutral countries (Sweden, Finland) joining NATO, countries far from meeting the accession criteria desperate to join (Ukraine, Moldova), Poland shifting resources massively to prioritise rapid large-scale military growth, Germany accelerating its post-"Cold War" switch back to an aggressive military policy, Lithuania taking Belarus to the ICJ for weaponising migration, Hungary accepting a one million Euro fine per day as the price of protecting its borders, the USA weaponising tariffs to influence not just "bad actors" but anyone who does business with them. And most recently, Putin's high-profile charm offensive in Shanghai with unlikely co-stars Xi, Modi, and Kim. It's natural to be cautious or even anxious about the UK's shift, but I don't think anyone really feels that the previous strategy was adequate.

As for people who won't lift a finger to defend the UK - fair enough, but again, look at eastern Ukraine. People there may indeed be fighting for their country and flag and identity but even without those, they'd be fighting to stay alive and protect their families.

Yes. I’m a bit surprised this is coming as a shock to anyone - it’s been very well-publicised.

Midnights68 · 06/09/2025 20:38

Dappy777 · 05/09/2025 22:41

😆Good luck getting people to go and fight. Who the f-ck is going to fight for a country that hates itself, is ashamed of its history and has completely lost its identity? I have a left-wing neighbour who flies a Palestinian flag outside her house. Everyone thinks she’s cool and progressive. If I flew a St George flag or a Union Jack, I’d probably get a brick through my window. I’d certainly get the cold shoulder from several of my neighbours. Why would I fight for that? What would I be fighting for? I no longer have a ‘tribe’. My enemy is the smug, sneering Oxbridge left who have done this to me. I could never hate anyone as much as I hate people like Owen Jones and Stewart Lee.

My great grandfather was wounded in WW1, and my grandfather joined the RAF in WW2, but if there was a war tomorrow, I wouldn’t risk scratching a toenail to defend this country. I no longer live somewhere with a shared identity and a shared history and a shared culture. I don’t feel any sense of duty or belonging. The left have got what they wanted. They’ve demonised our national heroes and taught us to feel ashamed of our history. And they’ve used mass immigration to IMPOSE a new identity on us. Fine, they can go and fight for it.

A few years ago I might have written all that in anger, or to antagonise the left. Now I really mean it. And I know many people who share my views. No, not members of the illusory, so-called faaaaaaaaar-right. Just ordinary people with deep roots in Britain who are done with this country.

I suspect that the sneering Oxbridge left are not the real reason you don’t have a tribe.