David Davis
Counting Cats said this. Or rather, they said that J R R Tolkien said it:-
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
in “The Two Towers”.
The only thing I would entreat libertarians to ultimately consider, is the need at some point, and really rather soon in historiographic terms, for liberal-inclined nations to arm themselves to the teeth (as I have often trumpeted) “without restriction”.
We learn today that we needed to “call on the Americans” in order to track a Russian Sumbarine in the North Eastern Atlantic. This is a not small place in which not one single copepod or shrimp-larva ought to be able to stir its arse, – let alone the Sumbarines of a country that our EnemyClass seems to be determined to piss off and irritate – without our War Secretariat knowing about it.
Leaving aside Sean Gabb’s and my collective dislike of the American-Federal-PoliticalEnemyClass and what they stand for – as opposed to the American People which is a different matter as I always am at pains to actively point out – what the hell are we playing at? (That’s to paraphrase D J Webb earlier.)
I think we had to call on the French to track a Russian sub the other day. What a great idea it is to slash the military so we can send aid to the Third World!
Sometimes sarcasm is apt – and this is one of those times. Mr Webb is quite correct it is insane to carry on (indeed expand) overseas aid, when the British armed forces are being cut – a process of cuts that goes back more than 50 years now.
The military forces of Western Europe and of Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been reduced to token forces, Could, for example, Australia defend itself against Indonesia – let alone the vast military expansion of China, and its endless claims on new lands and seas (soon “ancient documents”, with the ink still wet, will be found “proving” that Birmingham has “always been part of China”).
Islam (both Sunni and Shia) also claim the entire world – because Allah created the whole world (the philosophy is entirely logically consistent – if one accepts their starting assumptions).
The West has subcontracted its defend to one nation – the United States, and this is bit of a problem……..
The United States has out-of-control Welfare State and its “unfunded liabilities” in relation to these “entitlement programs” are unsustainable. Also the credit bubble financial system is also unsustainable.
In short the United States is not fundamentally different from other Western nations – even the 1960s social revolution (leading to a collapse of the family and a collapse in fertility) has also hit the United States – not just the big cities, but the mainstream United States (which resisted it for some decades – leading some people to think the United States might survive).
Neither financially or culturally are present trends sustainable – and they are having a direct military effect. Not just Politically Correct rules-of-engagement and an Orwellian description of things such as the Fort Hood Islamic terrorist attack as “work place violence” (I see Major H. got upset about his coffee or something – it was nothing to do with his Islamic faith), but a half century decline in the proportion of the economy that the United States devotes defence.
Such things as the United States Navy and Air Force really reached their peak somewhere around 1963 – and in a few years they will be at 1930s levels.
Solutions?
I suspect bankruptcy (de facto if not legal) is inevitable – in most Western countries. I am told the Chinese character for danger also stands for OPPORTUNITY.
In times of terrible collapse people are open to fundamental change – and not just fundamental change for the worse.
I’ve been wallowing in World War II documentaries lately (on YouTube, the Battlefield TV series) and while admittedly in WWII we needed American- and Soviet- help to beat the Wehrmacht, it’s still unedifying to look at what our armed forces are reduced to now. Here in East Angular, we were the heartland of Bomber and Fighter Commands. It’s amazing to think that in less than a lifetime we’ve gone from military superpower to, “can you lend us a boat for a bit?”.