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Should be noted that not all of the locals have always wanted the foreign military stationed there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenham_Common_Women%27s_Peac
by pjc50 8d ago
Should be noted that not all of the locals have always wanted the foreign military stationed there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenham_Common_Women%27s_Peace_Camp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenham_Common_Women%27s_Peac...
It is probably time for the Cold War relics to leave. It doesn't help their case that the US and Coalition spent much of the past 25 years since 9/11 engaged in an ultimately fruitless war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nobody really wants to look at the Ukraine war in Western Europe. It's very apparent that the degree of caring depends on how far east a country is; Poland are talking about getting the Bomb. The UK has provided significant technical assistance and missiles but the war really is not in the public conversation, and attempts to increase military spending or even fix the Ajax have gone nowhere. Everyone is of course obsessed with refugees, but not at looking where they have come from or what they are fleeing.
The situation got even worse with the new Iran war. Is that going to be a ten or twenty year event? Is the US finally going to get the ground invasion of Iran it has wanted since the Carter administration?
We cannot build a security architecture by looking backwards. We have to look forwards. But I'd settle for looking out of the window at the world as it is today.
- GJim 8d ago> UK has provided significant technical assistance and missiles but the war really is not in the public conversation Good God! If there has been a "lack of conversation", it is simply because not sporting Ukraine would be utterly unthinkable to us. The UK support for Ukraine has been, and continues to be, one of the largest. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-support-to-ukraine-factsheet/uk-support-to-ukraine-factsheet https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-support-to-ukr... Indeed, under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, UK private citizens allowed 234,000 Ukrainian refugees to come and live with us in our homes and spare rooms. Ukraine flags are flying everywhere in Blighty. Slava Ukraini!
- pjc50 8d agoThat's what I mean! The practical support has been really good. It doesn't filter back into the Discourse. There's no "having done that, what next?" It doesn't feed into discussions about military readiness or spending. The refugee success doesn't impact the endless small boats discourse. This is rather like the Cameron administration actually being good on Net Zero.
- akk0 8d ago> the war is really not in the public conversation We must live in very different Europes...
- pjc50 8d agoThat's my point. The conversation is different in different countries. I'm writing from the UK.