One of Tony's chief concerns these days, is what will happen to British Foreign Policy, once he steps down in a few months time. Now Tony himself has not been slow to pick up a gauntlet, having involved British troops in Serbia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and of course, Iraq.. all in the effort to contain terrorists and curtail their operations..
But while there is talk of mothballing half the British Fleet, and cutting the size of land forces, Tony has announced that while indeed, some naval forces will be reduced, there will be expenditures over the next ten to twenty years towards replacing old ships with new.. aircraft carriers twice the size of those we're going to retire.. destroyers equipped with state of the art technology to take the place of those which are effectively, now, obsolete.
Tony says he does not want Britain to become a 'soft' military power..
It is an interesting stance to take, for at the moment, Britain spends 2.5% of it's GNP on military equipment and in maintaining a sizeable standing army, and there are those who would see that money put towards national interests, some of those within the ranks of the Labour Party. Just what lies in the future for Britains involvement in maintaining a 'shoulder to shoulder' relationship with the US.. Whether Gordon Brown, in the two years he'll have in power, will maintain Tony's intent, is moot.. Whether David Cameron, if and when he takes the reins, will continue the intense war on Middle Eastern fanatic factions, is as yet, unknown..
And therein lies the problem. Any withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, could well mean the return of the Taliban, and afford groups the likes of al Q'aeda and Hammas safe havens for the training of terrorists.. A withdrawal of British troops from Iraq would certainly be seen as a capitulation..
Tony has put this country, just as George has put the US, in a position wherein there is no room for any show of weakness..
In effect, we're stuck with the positions set by the US and our own Parliament, since 911..
And as we have found out, at some great cost, ending the rule of a dictator is a simple matter, but ending guerilla attacks almost impossible.
It would appear we are in for the long run, regardless of who sits in majority in Parliament, or who lives in the White House. Once a ball of this magnitude is set to roll, it must be expected a massive effort will be necissary to stop it.
We have chosen our enemies.. and they have chosen us. The game must be played out, 'til the threat no longer exists.
We have no choice now. For if we thought the threat of worldwide Communism was a viable threat, we can certainly give no less creedence to that from radical Islamists.