A new British think tank report urges the United Kingdom to have more modest military aspirations. Reports the National Newspaper: "Britain should stop trying to be 'a mini-United States' and give up maintaining armed forces capable of policing world trouble spots, a report from an influential think tank said yesterday."
Business as usual simply won't work in today's world, especially in the midst of economic crisis. Added the National:
Lord Paddy Ashdown, joint chairman of the panel and a former international high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, told the BBC yesterday: "One conclusion we arrive at is that we can no longer afford to maintain a museum of Cold War armaments.
"We can no longer afford to maintain full-spectrum armed forces capable of operating anywhere in the globe like a mini-United States."
Lord George Robertson, co-chairman of the panel and a former Nato secretary general, added: "In the post-9/11, post-financial crisis world, we must be smarter and more ruthless in targeting national resources as the real security risks.
A more realistic military policy centered more on genuine national defense? I don't know about Britain, but it sure sounds like a good idea for America!