Wednesday, September 29, 2010

What we need to talk about

As readers of this blog know I rarely, if at all, discuss details of defence, leaving all that to the Boss on EUReferendum who knows a great deal about it whereas to me toys are toys are toys. However, it so happens, that I spent yesterday evening with a number of people to whom defence matters a great deal and we, naturally, talked about the forthcoming SDSR (Strategic Defence Spending Review), which, it is rumoured, will be coming out in sections rather as one whole document.

We all agreed (as does the Boss of EURef) that you cannot have a defence review until you have a serious discussion on foreign policy. What exactly is Britain's foreign policy? Does it have one? Given that we now have a government that, apparently, "doesn't do foreign" and to whom a strategic alliance with China is a perfectly sensible idea because it's a large country in the East, whose economy is growing and, therefore, no different from India.

The real problem is one we all know and understand. Given that membership of the EU means further integration into the institutions of the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) though such a policy in reality cannot exist as there are no common interests, a discussion about British foreign policy has to start with a discussion about the EU and Britain's membership in it. Forget about a referendum. We cannot have one until we have brought out into the open all the implications of our membership and non-membership. And up with that our politicians will not put. So, we might have to do it ourselves, spreading the word as best we can.

4 comments:

  1. "Given that we now have a government that, apparently, "doesn't do foreign" "

    Could have fooled me, Helen!
    It's called 'foreign aid'...a long-standing & unnecessary policy which continues to cost us untold billions.

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  2. Not the same as having a foreign policy or having the slightest idea about other countries. In fact, the very opposite.

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  3. Green Card # A024126478 and last year i went to Dubai to come to my county can the told me that you have no green card so i came back and y no that my husband has goon to the embassy of Dubai they have told him that you wife has a green card do you now what are you doing they tell me i donut have a green card and they tailing my husband that i have a green card can you tell me what is going on in the embassy he is a doctor and he was going for the seminar of the doctors you now i am so mad i have to lay like the oder people that they come to the embassy so i can go to U.S.A you tell me what to to i have send litter to the government but no answer donut ask me what sit i donut now they told me that they going to send me email but no email so can you help me or not thank you so much Helen Mikhail- Fard P.S if you are the one that can help me i have so much to talk about

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  4. i want to talk to the american embassy if is freedmen so way no one there to talk to me i have the rate to speck i have live in the unaudited stat for 15 years and i have work and pay tax so now my green card is no longer has any meaneing oh you are the land of the freedmen i want to come to my century and you tell me i cant you donut ask me way i have not been in the century way now you want to go back to your century so i tell you way in Iran the husband has to ok the wife to live and he was not giving me the ok after 18 years he gave me the ok and when i went to the embassy they toll me i cant to t o U.S.A but no one ask me that may be my you now you live in the lovely century how wood you now thank you HELEN MIHKAIL-FARD

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