You couldn't make it up dept. no.66: sure, they love him in Peshawar

[fpb]

The context is scary. The situation is potentially deadly, and will inevitably grow worse. But what seems to have led up to it is simply too hysterical for words:
From The Guardian:

The committee that recommended Salman Rushdie for a knighthood did not discuss any possible political ramifications and never imagined that the award would provoke the furious response that it has done in parts of the Muslim world, the Guardian has learnt.

It also emerged yesterday that the writers' organisation that led the lobbying for the author of Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses to be knighted had originally hoped that the honour would lead to better relations between Britain and Asia...

One of my first pieces when I started this blog four years ago was about the ludicrous incompetence of the British ruling class. It was not welcomed then - http://fpb.livejournal.com/4790.html. I rest my case now.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Even at its limited strength, the Royal Navy could have responded to the Iranian raid by sending the Iranian fleet to the bottom, probably without significant British losses. The lack was not in the British fleet strength, but in the incredibly cowardly Rules of Engagement the British were choosing to operate under.

But yes, the British military and naval establishments have been in decline for a long time.

[dirigibletrance.livejournal.com]

The Special Air Service is still alive and well, and still feared by baddies the world over as the most deadly special-forces organization on the planet. (Though, of course, many would argue this, in favor of Delta Force or Mossad)

I hardly think the British military is a "joke". Yes, it's declining, but it's still one of the largest militaries in Europe, and it still has the second-largest Navy in the world.

Many of it's decisions are questionable, though. Reducing the army to just 36 brigades? The United States, and many other countries, are considering *expanding* the size of their conventional, infantry-centered ground forces. Why would the British contemplate shrinking it?

The whole SA-80 Debacle was aweful, of course. They seem to have fixed most of the problems with it, now. Still, I look at that, and suddenly all the complaints about the M-16/M-4 don't seem quite so bad.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

I hardly think the British military is a "joke". Yes, it's declining, but it's still one of the largest militaries in Europe, and it still has the second-largest Navy in the world.

Indeed. It is almost certainly strong enough to take down the Iranian Navy by itself, though it would need air cover from the Americans to safely operate surface and air combatants within range of Iranian naval land-based aircraft. And while the British Army is no longer up to invading and occupying Iran, the special forces could carry out raids, and of course Britain can hit Iran with SLBM's, while Iran has no missiles capable of hitting Britain.

What happened recently was a failure of British political nerve, not military might -- much as the Iranians would like to pretend that Britain trembled in fear of Iran's mighty power.