Huge thank you to Peter Bray for submitting this arctile to UNN!
It would seem the chickens are coming home to roost, probably a little bit of Karma attached to. The recent assassination of Soleimani, the subsequent retaliation by Iran and Trump’s recent speech have brought together a perfect storm for the British Government, and indeed the European Union.
Since the end of the second world war, it has been in the interest of both the United States and what became the European Union to reduce the hard power of the United Kingdom.
At the end of WWII the Royal Navy was huge, only the United States Navy could rival it. US foreign policy, particularly towards the UK, has always been to check imperialist ambitions. The Royal Navy was always front and centre of British global strategy. Everything from defending our islands to protecting our fisheries, our merchant fleet, and for various forms of what we would now call strike capability. Only by reducing the Royal Navy could the British be checked.
Likewise with the then growing power of the European Coal and Steel Community/EEC; having a strong neighbour in the UK with a powerful Royal Navy was never a good thing for the EU. This especially important when one considers the EU’s own imperial ambitions, on the continent at least initially. The Royal Navy had to be neutralised.
However recent events have changed all that, though if civil servants and politicians had a brain they would have seen it coming when Iran took British Sailors hostage back in 2004. The USA is now self-sufficient in oil and gas and therefore now no longer relies on middle-eastern oil. The European Union however, is hugely dependent of Middle-Eastern and Russian oil and gas as it has very few natural resources of its own. The protection of shipping and oil pipelines from the Middle-East has largely fallen to the USA, resulting in thousands of American soldiers being killed in pointless wars. Trump’s recent speech after the attack on the Ayn Al Assad airbase by Iran, suggests that the foreign policy implemented by George Bush is at an end. It is backed up by his constant messaging towards the EU and the rest of NATO to pull their weight, meeting the 2% target of GDP. As Trump is signalling the withdrawal of American forces from the Middle-East, the rest of NATO is going to have to pull its weight – that includes the UK.
Everything from the protection of our merchant ships in the gulf to the potential of World War Three starting in Iran, has proven the Royal Navy to be woefully inadequate to the threats the UK faces. To that end, it is time that we followed Trump’s advice and spent more on defence. Without the US, it will be down the Royal Navy to protect the gulf, with what Navy? Isn’t ironic that both the EU and the US now need a stronger Royal Navy? Perhaps they should help pay for its rebuilding?
Simply put, the Royal Navy is nothing more than auxilliary fleet that could perhaps just about defend the UK. We cannot protect our fisheries, nor our carriers, nor our merchant navy. If we can’t defend our assets how the heck are we supposed to be able to launch an offensive if required? This has to change.
We also need a change of strategy, firstly we need to revert to type and become and independent maritime power once more – without reliance on the USA. Also, the goings on in Persia and Arabia means we need to look at our own resources, such as the Falkland Islands. Israel also seems interested in oil and gas from the Falklands: https://en.
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