The Red Line in Syria

To intervene or not to intervene? 

That is the question troubling many western states. As they watch the civil war in Syria rage on, many people wonder whether NATO will come together as it did in 2011 to end the civil war in Libya. You'll notice that many of the people who previously have called for cuts in the armed forces are the same people at the front of the queue calling for an intervention in Syria on humanitarian grounds (indeed many charities and global peace groups are quick to complain that the west sits on its hands while civil wars rage on, only to complain about the results when interventions do happen).

Today I'm going to make the case that the time for intervention is almost upon us, but not for altruistic, humanitarian reasons.

A Quick Update on Think Defence

For those that haven't seen, the website "Think Defence" is now back up and running. Link to the new site. Good to see it back in action again.

As for me, I shall be back later today with a post of my own on Syria.

8 month tours and a two week break

Or to be more precise, more on the MoD's plans to extend some future tours for army personnel deploying to Afghanistan to 8 months, and an update about the website Think Defence for those that haven't seen or heard yet. We'll start with TD first.

We are an Island you know....

I'm going to put back one of my planned posts for a day or two, because I want to address a particular quote that came up in a recent discussion over at Think Defence. This is a quote that comes up often, normally a few weeks after it has been soundly and comprehensively addressed, when the author of the quote suspects that everyone will have forgotten about the prior discussion. 

It also appears occasionally in other places around the web on a semi-regular basis and I want to post a comprehensive response here that I and others can simply link back to in the future, to save time for myself and others in constantly having to type out the same responses over and over again.

If nothing else it allows me to have a bit of a rant, which is always good for the soul.

Just to let you know...

... I am working on something. Albeit it slowly. 

Your Budget, should you choose to accept it....

With the recent confirmation that the government is going ahead with its assessment into the future of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation, with particular attention being paid to the prospect of using a Government Owned, Contractor Operated (GOCO) model going forward, I thought it might be a good time to sit down and write some musings on procurement.

A Quick Apology

To 'The Securocrat', who left a comment on the article "Change of Plan. Or Strategy". Your comment was originally eaten by the spam filter, for reasons I can't explain, especially as genuine spam often manages to find its way onto the blog with ease. I've only just checked the spam folder today and found the comment, which has now been uploaded. Sorry about that!

Filling time

Some people say Twitter is a pointless waste of time, good for nothing. I disagree. Largely on account of the fact that when my own posts get delayed, I can always fall back on the MoD, Army, Navy and RAF twitter feeds to throw up something interesting. And they've come up trumps once again.

As you probably already know, Exercise Joint Warrior is ongoing in and around Scotland right now. And 16 Air Assault Brigade has been getting in on the act, joining French airborne troops to practice a number of techniques including parachuting, a helicopter assault and follow on air landings.

Two links for you then. The first is just a picture, showing the parachute stage of the exercise. The other is a link to a more in depth news piece from the government website.

ANZAC Day

As you can see, the background has changed. And as you can see, it's gone very sombre. That's because today is ANZAC day, a day on which we remember those from New Zealand and Australia who have fought and died on behalf of those nations, and the suffering and privation endured by those who served and survived.

Traditionally you don't hear much about ANZAC day here in the UK, but this year I wanted to stop and recognise it. Lest we forget the number of Australian and New Zealand service personnel who have fought alongside our own forces and contributed greatly to our own success in many theatres, indeed, to our very security and survival here at home, as did many of our Commonwealth partners.

We remember them.

Update 24/4/13

Nearly May already? Jesus. 

Just to let thee know (because today we art in ye olde times mode) that I'm nearly finished on the next article, which might be up as early as tonight. Or it might not. We'll see.

Till then, erm, talk amongst yourselves.