UK Shifting Strategy After Russian Invasions: Philip Dunne

[unhappycamper]

http://breakingdefense.com/2015/07/uk-shifting-strategy-after-russian-invasions-philip-dunne/



UK Shifting Strategy After Russian Invasions: Philip Dunne
By Colin Clark on July 28, 2015 at 5:33 PM

WASHINGTON: Prompted by the recent increase in aggressive actions by Russia, Britain’s head of defense procurement says his country is shifting its strategy in reaction.

“We are refreshing our national risk assessment, which is influencing our national security strategy,” said Philip Dunne. It is the first time since 2010 that the U.K. has reviewed its strategy, known formally as the Strategic Defence and Security Review. “We do recognize a different threat environment” from the last review, he said, referring to Russia’s much more aggressive and frequent probes of British airspace and the invasion of Ukraine.

American defense officials from Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James to presumptive Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Joseph Dunford, have recently identified Russia as America’s top threat. Dunne’s comments would seem to indicate that Britain agrees.

~snip~

“It’s NATO that have determined independently the target for the UK,” Dunne said, graciously admitting that it’s “not quite the definition we’ve used in the past.” So NATO apparently allows the inclusion of intelligence funding as part of a nation’s defense budget. Fair enough. But it’s not the way the Brits have done things in the past and they were under a great deal of pressure from the U.S. to boost spending to that level as a signal to the rest of NATO. As a reminder, the United States now contributes about 75 percent of NATO defense spending, compared to 25 percent for all the rest of the alliance. Before 9/11, the distribution was 50-50.

[bemildred]

1. These buffoons spout this meaningless babble so convincingly.

“We are refreshing our national risk assessment, which is influencing our national security strategy”.

You really need John Cleese to deliver that properly.