Will Britain Choose “Strategic Shrinkage?”
Ted Bromund /
As Britain embarks on its first defense review since 1998, both press and official comments continue to hint that spending cuts are in the offing. The argument, to the extent there is one, is that since the U.S. does it all, and can pay for it all, Britain does not need to over-insure in expensive capabilities, especially those relevant to land war. This is a curious argument to make at precisely the moment when the U.S., under President Obama, is embarking on a procurement holiday. Equally wrong-headed is the increasingly popular argument that Britain no longer needs its strategic deterrent: an alliance of tightwads, nuclear weapon haters, and advocates for defense spending realignment threatens to disarm Britain unilaterally.
In an important speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies this week, William Hague, the Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary, explicitly rejected what he described as “strategic shrinkage.” Hague said that Britain must “seek to retain her influence wherever (more…)