Thinking about the invasion of the Falklands, I wonder whether Margaret Thatcher would have treated Trump differently from the way Starmer did; and in what way. Might make an interesting What If for Drama on 3 ...
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
As I recall the US was trying to "persuade" the UK not to bother to go out to the South Atlantic, but that didn't happen.Originally posted by french frank View Post
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Vinteuil's Guardian link above suggests differently.Originally posted by Dave2002 View PostComment
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The USA's Intelligence efforts are several orders of magnitude greater than the rest of the Europe and the UK put together. The CIA budget alone is greater than the entire UK defence budget.Originally posted by Petrushka View Post
Despite what is happening currently, it would certainly not be in our national interest to remove ourselves from this system.
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This is a good question but I think Trump’s reaction would be more venal. He would want to do a deal with whoever could do the best deal for the oil in the South Atlantic or ports for the US Navy.Originally posted by french frank View Post
I totally agree with disengaging with America whilst Trump is at the helm. They should be considered a hostile state . In my opinion we need to align with Europe , Canada , Australia and New Zealand. I would also encourage closer ties with China to counter American influence in the Pacific.Comment
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Just a reminder that, of the two major powers struggling for influence in the Indo-Pacific region (among other places), one is a functioning democracy with a Constitution full of checks and balances, whereas the other is a one-party state with a long record of ignoring the rule of law with regard to its own citizens.Comment
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Not to mention the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution which led to the deaths of at least 40 million maybe more. Aligning ourselves with China : what a ridiculous idea,Originally posted by Historian View PostComment
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A key figure being Caspar Weinberger who got a knighthood for his supportive efforts. How we are crying out for such figures now. Of course that generation had direct experience of world war and tyranny.Originally posted by Historian View PostComment
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As Monbiot freely admits, several times, much of his article is based on speculation.Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
By all means go with France as a potential model for going it alone as he suggests, but then accept that you will not have access to anything more than a tiny fraction of the Intelligence currently available to the UK. This will have consequences.
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I don't think it's all speculation.Originally posted by Historian View Post
I assume that almost anything we post is going to be visible to the US. Also - since it is quite lilkely that Russian or other actors such as North Korea, have hacked into the US - those countries will also have information.
Re Europe - most traffic that goes via satellite links is going to be visible to the US - as there is also at least one downlink channel to a US site or a site of a US ally. That's in the spec of the satellites - and certainly will apply to US launched satellites.
For European satellites - while currently the US is an ally - and indeed we hope it will remain so - there is also a requirement for at least one downlink channel to within an EU country. Note however, that that could include countries such as Romania and Hungary, though I suspect that mostly this is going to mean Germany and or France. Whether the UK still has access to downlinks from EU satellites I do not know.
For fibre links the situation is going to be a lot more. complicated, and we also [speculate - agreed] that there is at least one bad actor disrupting or breaking fibre links.
Some of the traffic is going to be encrypted - though it is likely that the major countries which can intercept the traffic will be able to decrypt the traffic and then examine it for "interesting" content.
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No, it includes factual information but the premisses behind it are about what may be the case or what might happen.Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
I will not dispute much of what you say in post 2023, however the US spends huge amounts of time and effort ensuring that the most sensitive information is kept safe from 'bad actors' including the ones you have mentioned. Currently the UK benefits from this as well as contributing to the flow of Intelligence. How would trying to create our own secure Intelligence network, with vastly less funding and capability, ensure that these 'bad actors' did not infiltrate to a far greater extent? Therefore I stay with my main point that isolating ourselves from the USA's Intelligence network would be a massively retrograde step.
Time will show whether and how far we are seeing a substantial re-alignment by the current US administration. However, that was not the issue I was focusing on in post 2015.Comment
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Weinberger got a Knighthood?Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
The larger point about surrounding a leader with competent ministers is appreciated. As bad as Trump I was, there was at least a sense that he was surrounded by people that were attempting to rain in his excesses and push his energies into responsible policy making . There were frequent ministerial changes, evidence that people had convictions and were standing up to him. Trump I is looking pretty good now by comparison.
Fwiw it’s felt here that if the election were to be held today with the same candidates Harris would win. Small consolation.Comment
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