Obama's Dirty Trick on UK Defense Strategy

Obama Retreats from Old Military Alliances, Yorkshire Post, February 10, 2012. "For the first time since the mid-1950s, Britain has a defense strategy that fails to mesh with America’s: it is best able to wage the kind of wars that the U.S. says it no longer cares to fight. The sad, sudden American retreat has badly dented the basis of Britain’s defense planning, and served a much wider notice that the U.S. would prefer to spend more on welfare and less on warfare. Unfortunately, its enemies are unlikely to share those priorities."

Christmas Wishes to the UK on Defense

Lessons on Defence Policy from America in 2012, Centre for Policy Studies, December 29, 2011. "My wish is that Britain will in 2012 learn a lesson from America on its defence policy. The lesson is not simply that Britain should spend more money on defence. It certainly should do that, but Britain’s limited and steadily shrinking defence budget is only a symptom of Britain’s underlying problem. Its real problem is that, while America regrettably takes defence less seriously than it used to, it is still far better off than Britain, which no longer treats defence as a centrally important political issue. The lesson Britain should learn from America, therefore, is that defence is a core duty of the state, and it is worthy of appropriately serious political care and attention. My policy wish to Britain thus takes the form of three Christmas wishes."

Three Problems with the 2010 NSS

RE: The National Security Strategy of 2010. Or 2006. Whatever, Contentions, May 30, 2010. "If Max is with his former boss in being underwhelmed by the 2010 NSS, then I’m with Max. His comparison to Bush’s 2002 NSS is the first one that came to my mind: like it or loathe it, that NSS took the risk of actually saying something clear, bold, and controversial. Of course, Bush paid the price for that, which is why Obama — as every future administration will do — ensured that he fulfilled the legal requirement to produce an NSS in the most boring, committee-driven, toss-a-bone-to-everyone way."