The Telegraph: “War is coming. Britain is determined to lose”

The British Army today flies the LGBT flag

With the global threat environment becoming more ominous by the day, the overriding priority for major Western powers such as Britain should be to strengthen our military resources as a matter of urgency, in order to tackle any future hostile acts, be they Russian operations against Nato’s eastern flank or Iranian-backed attacks against key allies, writes The Telegraph from London.

Except, as General Sir Patrick Sanders, the chief of the general staff, has revealed in a devastating critique of the current state of our military readiness, more than a decade of defence cuts mean that Britain would in future have to rely on a “citizen Army” if it became involved in an all-out war with a hostile state like Russia.

Given how the Ukraine conflict is going, such an eventuality cannot be ruled out. In recent months, several prominent military figures, including Admiral Rob Bauer, the head of Nato’s military committee, have issued stark warnings that Europe needs to prepare for war with Russia, a view echoed this week by the head of the Norwegian military, who said that time was running out to defend Europe unpredictable Putin.

Yet, not only is the UK Government in the process of reducing the Army to its smallest size since the Napoleonic era, military chiefs find themselves struggling to muster sufficient recruits to maintain the paltry 72,500 fully-trained soldiers that will be left by next year.

Numerous factors explain the recruitment crisis that is affecting all three Services, including the rank indifference that often characterises the attitude of our political leaders to military concerns. Why should our brave young men and women want to risk their lives when ministers have little interest in taking military issues with the seriousness they deserve?

Another consideration is in the insidious growth of wokery within the recruitment system, with officers often encouraged to prioritise diversity targets over more traditional recruiting methods. The Royal Air Force, for example, last year had to issue a grovelling apology after an official inquiry found it had unlawfully discriminated against the recruitment of white men to boost diversity targets.

Then there is the woeful lack of equipment, which means that new recruits would find themselves deprived of vital training even if they did succeed in being enlisted. It is not inconceivable that recruits could face the same privations as their forebears in the 1930s, when severe shortages of rifles resulted in recruits parading with broomsticks. In 2015, Germany’s Bundeswehr suffered this ignominious fate when its soldiers used broomsticks to conceal their lack of heavy machine guns.

The threats facing Europe today are too pressing for our military to be reduced to this state. The priority must be for ministers to end the wokery and get back to the infinitely more serious business of preparing for war.

Defense Minister Grant Shapps is going on a campaign...

British warships 'unable to fire on land targets' – raising concerns about Royal Navy's ability to defend itself from Houthis after group attacked British tanker in Red Sea, writes ‘The Daily Mail’.

Concerns have been raised about Britain's ability to defend itself from Houthi attacks following a strike on an oil tanker with links to the UK earlier this week.

The 250-metre long Marlin Luanda was struck by a Yemeni missile on Friday, sparking a fire within a cargo tank on the starboard side of the ship and forcing the evacuation of its crew.

Reports suggest that the Navy frigates deployed to the Red Sea cannot join in on the US retaliatory strikes; instead, Britain's military is targeting Houthi drones targeting ships in the region over water.

The UK has assisted with some strikes on land-based targets in Yemen – but only after dispatching RAF planes from over 1,000 miles away in Cyprus.

A source said told the Telegraph HMS Diamond, one of three Navy vessels sent out as part of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to protect the shipping route in the Red Sea, lacks 'the capability to fire to land targets'.

Another said: 'The UK is now having to fly RAF jets thousands of miles to do the job of what a surface-to-surface missile can do.'

The Ministry of Defence told the paper: 'As with all coalition operations, commanders select the best equipment for the job.'

Following the strike, the UK Government said Britain and its allies 'reserve the right to respond appropriately'.

“Recruitment crisis, British warships 'unable to fire on land targets'”  with the LGBT flag  behind  all this – is Britain indeed so weak or is it propaganda noise in an attempt to convince the population of the need to prepare for a completely non-obvious wars?

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