What I genuinely don't understand is why people don't look at the state of the UK armed forces, notice that it can't do jack and conclude that the appropriate proportion of GDP to spend on 'defense' is 0%.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/20/britain-defence-policy-military-power-world-stage
@RobertoArchimboldi linked to an article saying
It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK.
And meanwhile, the most advanced aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy was limping back to Crete, defeated by a laundry fire and clogged toilets.
The huge gap between hawkish politicians' chest-thumping rhetoric and the drab, depressing reality on military deployment isn't limited to just the UK.
@david_megginson that is a good point.
I guess I think that the US with its trillion dollar armed forces can pursue its imperial agenda. Not that it should, but it can. The Europeans are just paying a tribute to the US. At current expenditure levels they can't even provide auxiliary services to the empire.
All this talk of increasing budgets to build an independent defense policy is really just a smokescreen for being in a position to actually serve the US. In this case send boats to the med, but what Washington really wants is to hand over the war with Russia.
Its clear that they can't do anything at the current level. It is clear that they are ok. They would be better if they stopped being imperialists. The money saved could be used to build alliances and projects that made everybody richer. Perhaps I am naïve
Roberto von Archimboldi
David Megginson