> You underestimate England and have a very recent view of history
Ok, I'll bite:
1. It was a joke.
2. I'm British. UK or Britain, but not "England". Please. We don't have an English Army. We have an English football team, but that is a different story, and "the Germans always win".
3. The British Armed Forces strength (especially its navy) has been severely depleted in the last 20 years. They currently only have two aircraft carriers, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ocean. Illustrious was refitted to cover for Ocean whilst in refit (still ongoing), and then would be decommissioned afterwards (sometime this year). The Royal Navy decommissioned the awesome but expensive Harriers [ii]. They (we) have no fixed wing aircraft carriers anymore [iv]. This is all due to the Strategic Defence and Security Review [i] in 2010 in order to save £38 billion. David Cameron went to town and stripped the British Armed Forces to its bare naked minimum as part of this review and stated that:
"From a strategy over-reliant on military intervention to a
higher priority for conflict prevention. From concentrating
on conventional threats to a new focus on unconventional threats.
And from armed forces that are overstretched, under-equipped and
deployed too often without appropriate planning to the most professional
and most flexible modern forces in the world, fully equipped for the
challenges of the future."
So, in summary, Britain doesn't have the capability to defend itself without the US backing it. It can't even service its own Vanguard submarine Trident II missiles. The UK is a mouth piece. It is that little child that repeats everything the teacher says - in that annoying "I told you so" voice. However, out in the playground he gets bullied and has the seven shades of shit knocked out of him until the teacher steps in.
Amusingly Margaret Thatcher (another Tory) stripped the Navy back in 1980/1981, only to find out that she needed them after all. When they needed to go to the Falklands, she didn't have ships. The fascinating story from behind the scenes can be read in full here:
The UK is still one of the wealthiest and, yes, best-armed countries on Earth. Few even have one aircraft carrier - China, which everyone sees as a world power, just got a refitted Ukrainian one. (Humorous coincidence there).
I guess that still isn't a big enough military for you.
You didn't NEED to go to the Falklands at all, it was a splendid little war for you though.
You didn't NEED to go to the Falklands at all, it was a
splendid little war for you though.
Did I say I agreed with it? Um, no I didn't.
Did I say I think we should have a huge military budget? No.
I purposefully avoided stating my opinion.
What I was said was that the UK it it's current state is unable to respond militarily in this conflict. David Cameron decided that Britain would be focusing on "unconventional threats". I.e. terrorism and not "big bad" Russia.
I was simply drawing parallels between the Tory government in 1981 and the current Tory government in 2014.
Ok, I'll bite:
1. It was a joke.
2. I'm British. UK or Britain, but not "England". Please. We don't have an English Army. We have an English football team, but that is a different story, and "the Germans always win".
3. The British Armed Forces strength (especially its navy) has been severely depleted in the last 20 years. They currently only have two aircraft carriers, HMS Illustrious and HMS Ocean. Illustrious was refitted to cover for Ocean whilst in refit (still ongoing), and then would be decommissioned afterwards (sometime this year). The Royal Navy decommissioned the awesome but expensive Harriers [ii]. They (we) have no fixed wing aircraft carriers anymore [iv]. This is all due to the Strategic Defence and Security Review [i] in 2010 in order to save £38 billion. David Cameron went to town and stripped the British Armed Forces to its bare naked minimum as part of this review and stated that:
So, in summary, Britain doesn't have the capability to defend itself without the US backing it. It can't even service its own Vanguard submarine Trident II missiles. The UK is a mouth piece. It is that little child that repeats everything the teacher says - in that annoying "I told you so" voice. However, out in the playground he gets bullied and has the seven shades of shit knocked out of him until the teacher steps in.Amusingly Margaret Thatcher (another Tory) stripped the Navy back in 1980/1981, only to find out that she needed them after all. When they needed to go to the Falklands, she didn't have ships. The fascinating story from behind the scenes can be read in full here:
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/01/falklands-war-that...
This would have been a very different tale without US support [v].
[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defence_and_Security_...
[ii] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15876745
[iii] http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/oct/19/uk-can-no-lo...
[iv] http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/oct/19/david-camero...
[v] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_leading_to_the_Falklands...