Military cuts mean 'no US partnership', Robert Gates warns Britain

[dipsydoodle]

Cuts to the UK's armed forces will limit the country's ability to be a major player on the world stage, a former US defence secretary has warned.

Robert Gates said the spending squeeze would mean the UK could no longer be a full military partner of the US.

Under the government's plans, by 2020 the Army will lose 20,000 personnel, the Royal Navy 6,000 and the RAF 5,000.

The Ministry of Defence says Britain still has the fourth largest defence budget in the world.

It also has "the best-trained and best-equipped armed forces outside the US", the MoD added in a statement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25754870

Defence cuts 'threaten UK military partnership with US'

A smaller armed forces would mean the UK could no longer be a full-spectrum military partner to the United States, America's former defence secretary has warned suggesting the traditional military basis of the UK-US special relationship is under threat.

Robert Gates, currently promoting his autobiography about his time at the Pentagon, told the BBC that cuts in the number of military staff would limit the UK's global position.

The government is planning major cuts to the armed forces. The army is being cut from 102,000 to 82,000 over a number of years, with the 20,000 posts expected to be gone by 2020.

Navy numbers are expected to fall by 6,000, while the RAF will lose 5,000 staff.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/16/defence-cuts-uk-military-partnership-us-robert-gates

How sad.

[newfie11]

1. To bad we won't follow their lead. Nt

[Prophet 451]

2. Good

With all due respect to my American friends, we (the UK) shouldn't be the automatic figleaf of "international support". We're not (and shouldn't be) an empire anymore, time we stopped pretending to be.

Of course, my approval is curtailed somewhat by the knowledge that this is just part of the austerity economics our vandals-in-charge are pursuing come what may.

[Jeneral2885]

3. He is right in some ways

the British armed forces have been excessively cut. Then again, if Obama is looking East, he should ask the countries there to join him not the UK.