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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

> sensible people have realised that perhaps they can no longer rely on the ... UK

What's the UK done to your or anyone else in Europe to make them think that their military is not reliable any more?

UK military commitment to Europe was always via NATO so will not change under Brexit, and the UK still provides the headquarters and much of the troops for the cooperative formations in Europe such as ARC.

UK troops are on the ground in eastern Europe right now in the NATO EFP against Russia, providing I think (couldn't find a source right now) more troops than anyone else is.

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I am a Brit. The military is probably reliable. The MOD is not, especially in regards to equipment. The politics is not reliable. Especially in regard to the Saudi-Israeli-Iranian conflict; what the hell was Priti Patel doing running her own unlicensed foreign policy? Why do we have a foreign minister who has to be followed around by people apologising for him? Why have they fucked over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe so badly? The defence secretary was sacked last week, is the new guy any good?

In the event of an actual crisis, what happens? Are we going to fight a war in the middle of Brexit and/or a general election?

I think the original comment came across as saying that western Europe is thinking that the UK's military would no longer come to its defence against an invasion of its territory, which is a bit insulting the day after Remembrance.

Invasion of the actual UK is something that even Hitler never managed; in that case we launch the nukes and pray.

Far more relevant is what happens if a UK ally, vital or dispensible, gets invaded. Or yet another impending massacre of civilians, such as got us involved in Libya. As with the first and second world wars, are a huge number of people going to get killed or displaced in an unnecessary conflict?

Or if the UK manages to accidentally restart armed conflict in Northern Ireland; a Brexit that puts up customs posts there will get them blown up.

Would the segment of the UK that voted for Brexit in order to deport Poles cheerfully come to the defence of Poland?

I think you are simplifying UK involvement in Libya, failing to mention that the EU is doing a reasonable job all on its own of restarting conflict in NI, and also smearing your fellow countrymen as racist.

> Would the segment of the UK that voted for Brexit in order to deport Poles cheerfully come to the defence of Poland?

Are you aware that the UK has a large presence in Poland literally right now? And has been exercising their for years to prepare for needing to be able to defend Poland? And that new troops have gone out there since the Brexit vote?

I think most people in the UK remember Poland coming to our defence in WW2 and would do the same for them today, regardless of their opinion of immigration policy.

With Trump and Brexit, it's not unfair for the rest of the EU to build contingencies in case NATO breaks down.

Note: Not all EU countries are part of this, and NATO is still the primary alliance.

Margaret Thatcher's decision to go to war in 1982, with the government on the brink of collapse, and the economy a complete basket case, changed everything, and undoubtedly for the better.

An actual crisis tends to focus the mind.

What type of actual crisis are you talking about? The UK has one of the finest professional militaries in the world, amongst the finest special forces, some of the best cyber capabilities, and nuclear tipped ICBMs lurking beneath the waves at all times. Other countries send their soldiers to us to be trained for gods sake! I'd imagine we could take care of any serious threat to the realm pretty easily.

The problem with the UK military is it's been starved for funds for so many years one wonders how long it would take to gear up for an actual "near peer" conflict.

Word! http://lindleyfrench.blogspot.ch/2017/11/why-royal-marines-a...

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