120 Grenadier Guards have taken part in a jungle warfare Exercise in Thailand alongside the Thai Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defence says here that Exercise PANTHER GOLD 21 coincided with UK Defence Minister Baroness Goldie’s visit to Thailand.
“Her visit this week focussed on enhancing cooperation between the UK and Thai Armed Forces. Baroness Goldie met with Thailand’s Deputy Defence Minister, General Chaichan Changmongkol and signed the first Memorandum of Understand (MoU) between the UK and Thailand to deepen and enhance our Defence cooperation.
The joint exercise saw Armed Forces training in jungle warfare tactics, navigation and survival techniques. UK and Thai troops worked side by side, learning from one and other’s skills and experience. Personnel on exercise also had the opportunity to train in Muay Thai – a martial art and combat sport practiced in Thailand.”
Minister of State for Defence, Baroness Goldie said:
“Thailand is an important Defence partner for the UK in the Indo-Pacific. We are determined to continue to work together with our respective skills and expertise, supporting our shared values and addressing regional security challenges and global threats.
This week’s joint exercise is a fantastic example of our troops working together, building their skills and capabilities in a harsh jungle environment.”
The MoU will say the Ministry of Defence, strengthen the relationship with Thailand, with opportunities for further joint exercises, regular bilateral talks and shared best practices. You can read more on this from them here.
We used to do our jungle warfare training in Brunei and Belize.
So we strengthen our relationship with Thailand, not a bad thing but we are committing to more and more defence agreements as part of global Britain. The thin red line.
A good idea to spread our bets and make new friends. We might not be welcome in Belize when they leave the Commonwealth.
Belize is paid a substantial sum from UK government, we also have a defence assistance agreement with them from the days of Guatemalas threat to invade Belize in the 70s.
I’ve no truck with the Carrabean nations wanting to remove the Monarchy as head of state, it does not change our diplomatic relationship with them. We have a continuous presence with the West indies guardship.
I’m sure the payment helps. But Belize or any other commonwealth country becoming a republic would change the diplomatic relationship in a fundamental way. Its naive to pretend otherwise. The Chinese are reading from the British Empire playbook. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The 19th century was the British century, the 20th century was Pax Americana, this century will belong to the industrious, polite, inscrutable and outgoing Chinese. We need to get used to the idea.
It’s not as simple as that, for years the Chinese have bought their way into many countries in Africa, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean not to mention a few European countries. Many African nations have become unstuck by paying exorbitant interest to the Chinese for infrastructure and many cannot afford to pay the loans, the Chinese give these countries a choice payup or we take over and own the infrastructure. This includes Ports, mining and airports, railways and roads and communication networks. The Chinese have been allowed for too long to get away with it. Militarily good transport infrastructure is key.
No difference from the days of empire and I wouldn’t write off the US just yet.
I am reading the Runes. This decade will see joint UK and Chinese peacekeeping forces policing ISIL in East Africa and Boko Haram in The Sahel; Argentinian wheat and beef feeding China with West African and Australian fish for starters.
The commonwealth’s best bet is to turn itself into a resurrected Thomas Cooke tour company.
Paul, I can see China trying to fill the US role of the global policeman and they may do it with partners, but I don’t share the vision that the UK will ever be a partner to a country that we are always going to question their actions.
Pax America and Pax Brittanica both came with substantial cost never recouped by the donner in both cases derived by political elites looking at a “higher calling”. China would never spend money providing security for others with no payback. They are mercurial by nature and unable to fathom anything beyond transactional arrangements or exploitation.
We could just stop questioning their actions; be friends. Macron has just apologised for the French police massacre of hundreds of Algerian protesters in 1961. First I’ve heard of it. No doubt the French maintained a tactful silence on the Bloody Sunday shootings. It’s what friends do. No doubt you have noticed …or not noticed that the UK maintains a discrete silence on the almost systematic institutionalised violence against Christians and Muslims in Modi’s Hindu nationalist India. We have made a diplomatic choice to favour India over China; because HMG thinks China is too powerful while India can be manipulated to our advantage through trade deals. I’m not sure this is working. India is buying Russian oil, and fighters and French Rafales. China makes things we want to buy. I don’t need any Moghul tombs.
Xi got a state visit in 2015, Modi never got anything. China is a threat due to its economic size and the fact our key Allies think it’s a threat. India is just another country we should have little to do with. India has almost nothing to offer us but it shares a land boarder with the most dangerous country in the world. India should be the one courting friends but perhaps they think Putin and his band of conscripts will keep China in check. India goes out of its ways to reject any friendship with the UK or alining with any of our Allie’s interest we should respect that and have nothing to do with them.
It’s a small group in the UK who imagine we have any mutual position or common stance with India. In India they general beliefs is that the Indian national army and the Japanese liberated India in 1944 from the evil British overlords. What would we want to have anything to do with a country that hates us so much.
👍
That is the result unfortunately of anti British propaganda in India for many decades. Reality is if course different but we live in the woke revisionist ( re reviled) world. Admittedly some Indians think otherwise but are unpopular for it.
India doesn’t actually hate the UK. They are mostly indifferent. If you look at the Pew surveys the UK is seen about as favourably as France and more favourably than the EU.
If I remember correctly the most favourably countries were the US and Australia with Russia and Japan been seen as less favourable that the US and Australia but more favourable than the UK and France.
The least favourable countries of course were Pakistan and China. Those are the only countries that India actually hates.
Yes let’s stop questioning the actions of an authoritarian regime that has reneged on the Hong Kong agreement with the U.K., that continues to claim and militarise the South China Sea, that continues to occupy Tibet, that is ethnic cleansing is Uighur problem, and continues to threaten Taiwan with invasion.
Yes it’s ridiculous for us to be “questioning their actions” 🤦🏻♂️
Well, I’ll grant you they can get a bit boisterous at times. We just have to get to know them a bit better.
Please – don’t mention the words – UK, French/ France or friends in the same sentence. As for France maintaing a tactful silence – when it comes to the UK the French only do this when they would otherwise have to praise the UK.
Well, I have French relatives so I will maintain a diplomatic silence 😊
Cymbeline wrote:
We have a leader who is pro China and who had to be forced (with the threat of a mass revolt) to cut China out of many secuurity risk regards the Uk and espically the UKGOV.
Just a month ago Boris was warned of a backlash regards his attempts to get back into bed with Beijing which took on more serious implication after he promoted Guto Harri a pro Chinese SPAD into the position of Tory Party communication chief.
Farouk, I always hold your comments in high regard so its a little bit of a shock to see Boris is still going in that direction then again perhaps I shouldn’t. I know everything resolves around money, but I had thought we were done when it comes to China investment and UK projects.
The EU have been no better. Recall they signed a trade agreement with China despite the incoming Biden administratiin asking them to hold off. Indeed the EU are having a meeting today with China. April Fools – says it all really.
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-xi-jinping-has-europe-eu-summit-russia/
China – global policeman😂. More like global mugger!
China also may have numbers of men and are excelling in some areas like missle tech but their aircraft are still not their, they cant project power and as we see with russia glowbal power figures mean very little in a real fight with blooded professionals vs conscripts or amateurs
Russia does have many professional soldiers who are highly motivated.
Mistake number one for the Russian top brass, do not underestimate your adversary. Mistake number 2 do not use conscripts to spearhead a major invasion. Russia does have well equipped professional fighting soldiers who are defending the borders with China and Northern Europe.
Mistake number 3 do not expect your special forces to clean up the mistakes of a conscripted army when it all goes wrong.
Mistake number 4 if you do not treat your servicemen and women with respect it will bite you in the backside.
Mistake number 5. If you expect the populous you have invaded not to fight like heroes don’t bomb the heck out of them.
Mistake number 5 never underestimate the willingness of other countries to go to the aid of the Nation you have illegally invaded.
They have been allowed carte blanch access into our own infrastructure (energy, water etc) in the UK – I suggest that needs addressing imminently onsidering how long its taken for us to address Russian money …but it wont be
It’ll be a slow process and you can see the difference in the same political parties where as Teresa Mays government courted Chinese money and involvement in new nuclear energy plants, when Boris takes over the political landscape had changed and they booted the Chinese out of the program.
No but look at the mess with 5g and Huawei. The Chinese have been interested in becoming big stake holders in some of the countries airports and nuclear energy needs. Fortunately the government listened to the intelligence assessment from the security services and the Chinese have been denied.
Colonialism worked when you could buy up stuff and if the other guy did not pay you sent in a fleet. In a world of the UN where Uncle Sam and the west rule the seas buying off countries is a waste of time much like threatening them. China is wasting billions of its own money on railways and ports that will never be viable to secure debt deals it will never be able to enforce at a time when its own economy and demographics are collapsing.
Have you seen the size of the fleet China is building ?
Yes, mass formations of corvettes won’t take them much past the first islands chain. How are they going to send a substantial task force to Sri Lanka, Chad or Jamaica to get repaid on a debt. It’s just silly 19th century style thinking. Russia made it all of 25 miles in to Ukraine before modern politics and logistics caught up with them. Even the USA combined with NATO Allie’s was unable to permanently secure either Iraq or Afghanistan ( two mid sized insignificant countries by colonial standards) despite local public support and massive military superiority.
Martin wrote:
They do it legally, which is why Sri Lanka (Under Mahinda Rajapaksa) after been rejected for a loan by both India and the US as been unfeasible) to allow them to build a huge port in Hambantota went to China, then when they couldn’t pay back the loan, China demanded cash or something else, that something else was a 99 year lease on the Port and 15000 acres of land after a short spell out of power Rajapaksa is back in and after the port of Hambantota conveniently placed $7 million in his bank account , Sri lanka signed the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill last may allowing China to redevelop the land around the Port of Colombo in return for the lease for 99 years of 153 acres of land in the port.
Currently in Uganda , its default in payments to China over loans looks set to be resolved by handing over Entebbe International Airport to china. Kenya is seeing similar with the port of Mombasa. All done legally and there are plenty of other examples of surreptitious empire building
Then the next government comes along and nationalises it then what can China do.
Martin wrote:
Then the next government comes along and nationalises it then what can China do.
Use the letter of the law to bankrupt the country, and lets be honest if China can force the UN not to recognise Taiwan (Yup Taiwan does not have a seat at the UN or any representation in any of the UNs departments (WHO/UNESCO etc) who’s going to say anything if it used a little bit of arm twisting like it does with all its neighbours.
Well you obviously on’t know what you’re talking about.
Absolutely, people have to realise that a domestic political decision to remove the Queen as head of state, has nothing to do with political, defence and economic ties.
It’s all rather archaic and increasingly irrelevant in the 21st century, having the queen as head of state of sovereign independent countries, in my opinion anyway.
I’m amazed more haven’t already done so.
I think when our amazing Queen has passed on, many countries will start the process, I feel it’s only out of a sense of duty and loyalty to her personally ( not the British Crown) that many have temporarily hit the pause button.
Yes I whole heartily agree with you John.
I have to say the never ending victim culture of countries like Belize and Jamaica is growing thin. I can’t see any strategic benefit for the UK being there, just cost and I think it’s time for us to pull back from all these countries. Our presence is clearly not wanted and I am sure Belize can defend itself from Honduras now. People were right to point out that the Royal visit looked like some hangover from imperial times and it was quite frankly a national embarrassment primarily orchestrated by the politicians of a number of countries in the Caribbean using republicanism causes to hide their own economic failings. Their wish for freedom should be granted as quickly as possible. Realistically jungle training post Vietnam has been useless, better to refocus on countries that A) want our presence B) support us internationally and don’t try to get us to pay reparations and C) where we and our Allie’s have a strategic interest. We should continue to support over seas territories Cayman, BVI etc but that’s it. Engagement with countries like Belize, Bahamas and Jamaica serves no purpose.
These countries you talk about are nation States. Reparations are a minority view that has been bigged up by the media. Jamaica the Bahamas and Bemuda rely on tourism, sugar and bananas as thier main source income. The US would be horrified if China made big inroads in the Caribbean, I have friends in Jamaica and Bemuda and they will tell you of thier fondness for the Queen but worry who and how a president would be elected, many have dual nationality with the UK and will always be close. Diplomatically nothing changes and we have a responsibility to these countries and its the UK who is the first to respond when a hurricane hits or a volcano erupts.
Jamaica’s democratically elected prime minister and virtually all of its MP’s would beg to differ. Quite simply this is damaging Britain’s image globally as it looks like we are some failed colonial power desperately trying to hold on to a few remnants. It’s time for us to be proactive start pulling out. if the USA is worried about Caribbean countries and Chinese influence then it’s can put it’s hand in its own pocket. Let’s not forget Reagan invaded Grenada with no consultation with the British government which again is embarrassing as Grenada has nothing to do with the British government but somehow it was advertised as a slight to Britain. We can’t force countries not to use the same head of state as us but we can ditch the commonwealth in favour of CANZUK and create a meaningful confederation of like minded useful countries that actually like us.
Andrew Holness and all Jamaican prime ministers since 1972 have been republicans and nothing has changed. Prime Minister Holness has been Prime minister since 2016 and although not elected on a mandate of transitioning Jamaica from a constructional monarchy to a Republic it was his chief aim. A referendum will be offered to the people of Jamaica but this has not happened.
So for the sake of argument just because the political landscape is changing in the carrabean, we wash our hands and let them get on with it, remove the West indies guardship and kick out Jamaicans who have come over and joined the British Army.
Sounds a bit harsh to me.
I’m not kicking anyone out of anything, I’m suggesting the UK leaves the commonwealth. The APT (N) ship stationed in the Caribbean is their for the protection of British overseas Territories like BVI not Commonwealth realms like Jamaica. Jamaica’s government clearly feel our help is not required so what are we doing there. At some point soon probably once QE2 dies Jamaica and a number of other Caribbean countries and no doubt other commonwealth nations will all leave and they will do it in a way to attempt maximum humiliation of the UK. Us leaving the commonwealth and inviting countries to leave the Commonwealth realm status gets us ahead of that. I for one don’t want to be lectured by a world wide group of leaders many with questionable human rights records on the sins that I and my country have made and continue to make with the international applause of CNN the BBC and the Chinese CCP ringing in my ears. This would also damage any prospect for CANZUK which should be our principal strategic focus moving forward.
It’s called a West Indies guardship, it’s not there solely to look after British Colonies it works closely with US coast guard and is an emergency response assets for natural disasters.
I respect your some what radical point of view but disagree.
It has not been called the West Indies guard ship in a long time. It’s been called Atlantic Patrol Tasking North since at-least the 1990’s. Indeed I believe the people clamouring for reparations likely find the terms West Indies offensive. It’s their to provide presence for British overseas territories (not colonies) from Bermuda to the Cayman Islands but it also works on a number of other duties most notably with hurricane and disaster relief and counter narcotics. But we only have a standing patrol in the area because we have British Territories there, Same reason we have APT (s). Neither the south Atlantic or the Caribbean have much if any relevance to UK interests excluding our territories located in them.
Reference to the West indies guardship I know it hasn’t been under that title for years, but it’s in the Caribbean and jamacans I know refer to themselves as from the west indies. Yes corruption is rife but don’t tar the people it’s those in power. Okay let’s cut them loose entirely and let thier new best friends have free reign over them.
This country will then have no influence in the area, roll on global Britain.
I would agree with you on that statement. I think we need to get ahead of the game here. It’s only time before Jamaica and other countries start trying to litigate through the international courts for reparations. Of course there is no legal process for that but having these dodgy countries asking us for reparations for the past sins 200 or more years ago is beyond the pale for me. If they are so keen to ditch the UK then can we not have a grown up relationship whereby their nationals are not given preferential treatment here in the UK? To be honest I think the majority of Jamaican’s probably like the Queen and think this is all tosh but they just keep electing these left wing polticians that like to bash Britain. If they thought a little bit more strategically and tried to actually have a grown up relationship with the UK then the case for UK targetted infrastructure investment from overseas aid would be easy to make. Personally if they had more pleasant politicians I would be happy for the UK to invest in Carribean countries – just not under threats of intimidation or humiliation.
Mark wrote:
Reparations are a minority view that has been bigged up by the media.
Actually Mark it is isn’t the 15 nations which make up CARICOM:
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Montserrat
Saint Lucia
St Kitts and Nevis
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Set up a body (Caricom Reparations Commission,) which published in 2014 a 10 point plan which all of the above approved.
1) An official apology from slaving and colonial nations;
2) Support repatriation for those desiring resettlement in Africa;
3) the creation of an indigenous peoples development program;
4) Support for cultural institutions such as museums and research centres that expose the colonialists’ crime against humanity and affirm Caribbean people’s humanity;
5) The launching of public health programs to address the chronic diseases afflicting Caribbean people;
6) Support for illiteracy elimination programs;
7) the building of “bridges of belonging” to reconnect black Caribbeans to their African heritage through school and cultural exchange programs;
8) The development of reparatory programs to overcome the psychological trauma produced
by enslavement and underdevelopment;
9) The transfer of knowledge of the latest technology and science into the training of Caribbean youth;
10) The reduction of domestic debt and cancellation of international debt.
In a nut shell what they are asking is for the UK to pay for and build:
Schools, Hospitals, Museums, which the Uk would have to pay to run, they also demand treatment for those suffering from and I quote the psychological trauma produced by enslavement and to fund not only free visits for people who want o visit Africa, but to fund the movement of anybody who wants to go an live in Africa.
They also demand the Uk cancel all their debts On top of that they want Money, Jamaica alone is demanding £7 billion.
Its a huge scam by people who have never been slaves from people who have never owned slaves in which to try and repair the mess they themselves have made of their own countries.
Completely unrealistic demands that are not taken seriously. They receive money from the foreign aid budget which is not huge in the scheme of things. Bermuda recieved £1.5 billion in 2014 for hotel complexes and training for young people.
£1.5 billion that figure came from a government foreign office website it must be a typo.
Advocated by the 15 governments though. So some one is taking them seriously. In Malaysia HINDRAF wanted $4 trillion compensation for the British government for indentured slavery. They got zero recognition from the Malaysian government. Indentured slavery was a crime as it happened post abolition.
Bermuda is a uk territory though and not in Caricom. That said, the claims are insane. Do north africans want reparations from Italy or Egypt? Do the Spanish from the Moor nations? Everyone has enslaved people at some point
Can the people of Northumbria claim against Denmark. The area has still never fully recovered from the Danelaw occupation.
Just issue what ever nonsense apology is required then exit the region permanently. There are countries in Africa and Asia far more in need of foreign aid than the majority of these countries many of which are tax heavens. America and Brazil are the regional players, zero need for UK assistance here. Clearly slavery was a terrible crime against humanity which is why the UK banned it and spent the equivalent of £200 billion to get rid of it, a debt which we only paid of in 2015. Blaming people in the UK today and expecting compensation for acts carried out three hundred years ago while also ignoring contributions made 150 years ago is also a great travesty and we should have nothing to do with governments advocating for that. Especially considering the majority of these governments are corrupt and or tax havens stealing other countries money. We have obligations to support British overseas territories but that is it. The entire links with the region is an embarrassment better to be forgotten as quickly as possible. There should definitely be no more Royal visits after the latest farce. Pissing tax payers money up the Wall to embarrass the country. Buckingham Palace should be ashamed.
Oh I agree 100% with you. All I see here is a get rich scheme pushed and supported by liberal do-gooders (leigh day no less.) In 1945 Europe was a basket case and it had to be rebuilt from bottom up that was due to blood sweat and tears by the locals and not slavery or empire, The former countries of the Empire werent touched as Europe was by war and the idiots demanding reparations have never been slaves nor have they been for over 200 years and yet they demand money from people who have never owned slave. Why, my parents came from India and these f-whits are demanding I should stump up cash to them. Me, Id say, if thats the way you feel, you have lost all access to the Uk, bye, have fun with your new Chinese mates and Id keep an eye on your pets
Paul, whilst Belize and perhaps Jamaica might become republics does not mean they will leave the Commonwealth but I get what your saying, who knows China might offer those countries a wad of cash to get a foothold in the Caribbean should that eventually indeed happen. Also a good idea as Pakistan and other smaller nations in the area move into Chinas orbit, and India currently playing footsie with Russia our circle of friends becomes smaller but more important.
Yes, Thailand is a sensible choice. Vietnam, Cambodia, Mayanmar, Laos are not starters. Thailand has a capable navy, including a couple of opv/corvettes based on the River 2 design.
China have also been making inroads into Nepal for a few years as well back in 2018 2 seperate communist parties amalgamated into the NCP and are now the largest party in Nepal.
Let India and their buddies in the Kremlin deal with that one
I’m sure they will rise to the task. I wish them every success in coalition building.
More to do with hoping for Thai defence contracts. The Thai military is hopeless and these days too pro-Chinese. The best country in terms of military is by far Vietnam – well organised and brave/ patriotic soldiers.
Correct….follow the money and you get the answer. Works every time 😉
We should leave the commonwealth, it’s embarrassing. Reform with the CANZUK countries in to some form of loose confederation. I’m tiered on being accused for things apparently committed by by great great great great great great great grandfather by countries who hate us and have nothing to offer us. There are only four countries in the commonwealth worth operating with. Everything else is a colonial wet dream of the 1950’s by a generation that could not bring itself to admit the empire was over. If the commonwealth ever served a purpose it was to Shepard newly independent countries. That job is done now and we have zero in common with countries like India, Pakistan or Nigeria and these countries universally loath us. Why would we want to stay in some form of Union with them.
I think when the current monarch passes away either we will or it’ll become even more meaningless than it already is.
Martin, I have to agree with your views on those elements chasing their pots of gold in the form of reparations. Its all moot in my book, the South Coast in the 1700’s used to get raided and local population abducted and taken to North Africa, not on the same scale as the abominable slave trade of course, but many nations have been involved in enslaving populations throughout history.
For many years I have been trying to get compensation for the enslavement of my ancestors in the south east of Scotland and north east of England however the governments of Denmark and Norway refuse to apologies for the Viking atrocities. I also tried to make claims against the Italian government for the quite frankly barbaric and sickening acts committed by Roman legionaries in the North of Britain but they also refuse to pay 😀
You don’t get it your British and therefore irredeemably evil ! and my source for that is every TV station bar 1. Plus almost every Radio station and most newspapers.
Have they actually said they are leaving the commonwealth? You can be republic and still be a member after all!
So you can. Good news! So the UK could stay if if we became a republic.
You can also never have been a part of the British Empire, the Commonwealth, and indeed have been the subject of a foreign power for a century or there abouts, and still become a member of the Commonwealth.
Mozambique…
Brunei, those ebans were jungle ninjas, just give them your treacle pudding and they will build anything for you 🤣
Do we not now do jungle training in Brunei and Belize?
In the big list of things to do in Thailand, i bet the last thing those Toms want to be doing is jungle warfare training 😀
It’s probably the safest thing to do in Thailand.
Ah yes Jungle exercises, gopping but good fun. Great sense of achievement afterwards.
Good to see we are trying to develop relationships with countries such as Thailand. We, and the rest of the West, need to wake up to the impact and threat of China’s belt and roads initiative.
For example, the Australians had something of a shock this week when it emerged that he Solomon Islands are about to sign a defence assistance agreement with China. The draft agreement was leaked and it looks like the Chinese have way too much sway over when they need to go and assist the Solomon’s. There are hints that China may get a naval base out of the deal! Solomon Islands population is 600,000 to 700,000, but the islands stretch for quite a distance to the north east of Australia and could easily form a significant barrier between Australia and South East Asia if China ever got to the point of being able to play the same game as it is in the South China Sea.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60896824
As Paul P points out above, straight out of the British Empire playbook. You’d have thought any former member of the British Empire would be wise to the threat having been taken once already…
We really need to step up and get our collective heads in the new game.
Cheers CR
Belize, Jamaica whoever if they want to get into bed with China big deal. Cut our Foreign aid to them and spend it on countries that actually appreciate it. Why are we giving shed loads of taxpayers cash to people who vote with Russia, China, Argentina etc every chance they get. Yes i’m particularly looking at S.Africa, Tanzania, Pakistan and India.
Actually David most of our aid is in the form of cheap loans which we do ask to be repaid…
Grand aid is quite rare apparently, usually disaster relief type stuff I think.
Cheers CR
Where did you find that data i’ve searched high and low and found no details.
I read a report sometime ago about the time the aid budget was cut to 0.5% of GDP. I cannot find the link to it again hence I have deliberately been vague in my original statement.
However, my understanding is that most in the West give aid on a similar basis and that the recipients are often reluctant to take the loans as it shows up on their foreign debt account. It has been mentioned on here by other posters that India, for example, is not keen on foreign aid possibly for that very reason.
The fact is nothing is ever completely free, or at least very little is free. My suspicision is that the only time the UK government ‘gives’ money away is when there is a disaster and jo public digs deap to help and they come up with a 1 to 1 match funding promise. The rest of the time I suspect that at least some of the money eventually comes homes!
Finally, I found a link that explains how loans are included in 0.7% GNI figure as a “Grant Equivalent”. However, it does not appear to explain how much is actually a no strings grant. The definitions given suggest that the grant element of any assistance is always less than half.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/854342/Grant-Equivalent-Technical-Note1.pdf
Enjoy…
Cheers CR
Our foreign aid largely bypasses governments and goes direct to charities and NGO’s working with the people in need. This gains us zero political support in countries like India who would much rather we wrote their government a cheque. Virtually all British aid is devoted to reaching the millennium goals as set fourth by the UN but clearly paying for educating poor people and providing basic services and health care for them does little to enrich their governments of these countries. China on the other hand offers cheap loans to build massive infrastructure projects built by Chinese companies which come with large kick backs to government officials and local elites. That being said Chinese aid gains them mass support at the UN while our style gains us zero friends and if you look at the number of times everyone at the UN assembly votes against us (Diego Garcia, Falkland Islands etc) having the worlds largest aid budget buys us zero diplomatic clout. I’m guessing that due to Oxfam and others very strict rules on making sure no one knows it’s our taxes paying for the aid even the beneficiaries don’t know it is us however apparently this is the price we must pay for the sins of our GGGGGGGGGGGGGGG grandparents and all the evil they caused in the world.
Thanks for that.
Really ?I was not aware of that.. do you have a link to the detail on that ?
Even so if they are cheap and we only ‘ask’ they are repaid…so maybe slightly better than Chinese ‘investment’ – but they are still making inroads?
Wasn’t there something recently where an island voted not to come out the commonwealth and/or accept Chinese ‘investment …but that was ignored- could be wrong though frequently are?
LOL Join the queue.
That’s wrong, your talking about climate financing linked to COP26. Our aid is in the forms of cash currently 0.5% of GDP.
No it refers to Official Development Assistance (ODA), please see the link I provided in answer to David Steeper’s query.
Apparently, aid is no longer measured in ‘cash’. An international agreement (OECD I think) now uses a measure called ‘grant equivalent’ aid and it is explicitly applied to ODA.
Cheers CR
ODA may be in the format of grants or soft loans. The vast majority of ours is grants.
This is a clear indication of how hard pressed and over stretched the Army is. It’s totally pathetic really, and makes Britain look feeble. 120 Grenadier Guards take part in jungle warfare training… good job they wont be called upon to deploy anywhere tropical in a hurry.
Last year the GGds were in the Falklands, with a similar sized deployment, and then Kenya, again around 120 of them.
Whatever happened to battalion sized deployments, so that the entire battalion gains experience and skills?
I think that is battalion sized nowadays😀
Unfortunately… your not far wrong. 😔
Its a shame. I remember my time in the army. Lots of different regiment capbadges, loads of exercises, 6 medmans a year, loads of adventure training. A full Div in Germany with 3 full strength Armd brigades. I don’t doubt the lads are just as professional as always but the bottomless money pot just doesn’t seem to be there anymore.
Yes, cap badges gone, regiments long gone, and 500 men now called a battalion, when in my day 500 was a regiment.
Shockingly naïve light-fingered corrupt politicians and others involved in procurement. Those clowns conned into cutting the Army to the bone (or less), whilst handing over ‘suitcases’ of money to every lame brain individual wanting to get ‘in on’ military contracts.
I remember when Virtus came out in 2016. Initially it was garbage, some lads even suggesting that they found it difficult to rise from the prone position, because it was poorly designed, yet the mod still bought 9,000 sets of it!
Tom, do you mean 500 was a Regiment in your day? Maybe for RAC, RA, RLC – but they were battalion size units.
Yeah and we had to get America to help us move a bunch of challenger one tanks to Iraq with little idea of their engines actually worked with a bunch of infantry using a rifle that jammed after 20 shots. That was the reality of late 1980’s British army. It’s not something we should look to emulate again.
First Gulf War a bit before my time but i was there for Round 2. To be fair i expect Brits had as many problems with our equipment as any other western army did.
I don’t disagree with the leaner and more adaptable concept, i just think its being pursued in an inefficient and half-arsed manner. We need to commit to it or else we become an Army that can’t be trusted to do the job.
I don’t recall that we asked Americans to move CR1s to Iraq. I recall that CR1s were shipped out of the German port of Emden for GW1, such shipping being chartered by UK.
Sorry I mis wrote that, moving challengers to gulf by sea was not an issue although I have no idea how they got there, Point class were specifically acquired as a result of this so they may have had to use US ships. The scandal in the press at the time was the need to use US strategic lift aircraft as we only had C130 in service and their was grave worry that the CR1 mechanical reliability would be an issue. But my point was in response to rose tinted glasses on the historic army. When I was in 1999 most of what we had was s**t especially the rifle. The army today is light years better off than it was in the 80’s or 90’s. Smaller but way better equipped. The army has been complaining about loosing cap badges since Blenheim. The best cap badges in the army Commandos and Paras did not even exist 70 years ago. We can keep the cannught rangers or the Scot’s Greys going for ever. The army is not a museum. Tradition is important sure but it should never be at the sacrifice of quality and too often many parts of the army leadership are too concerned about cap badges rather than body armour for their soldiers.
Thanks Martin. As an ex-REME officer, I can shed a little light on the perception that CR1 reliability was questioned. Chieftain reliability was invariably poor and Challenger, a Chieftain derivative, was perceived to have equally poor reliability which was somewhat unfair as it was different in many ways, including different PowerPack (Main Engine was the Perkins diesel CV12 as against the Leyland multi-fuel L60, the gearbox was a more advanced David Brown unit, etc etc.)
As you recall the way we use AFVs (unlike your civvy car) is to leave them in a damp hanger for weeks and weeks occasionally firing them up from cold for short periods to conduct checks, then store them back in the damp hanger and once in a blue moon to exercise them very hard on training exercises, to pay lip service to maintenance then store again in damp hanger. Not the best way to treat a complex electical. electronic and mechanical equipment.
To deploy 221 tanks on Op Granby, it was perceived that a huge volume of spare parts would be required so the remainder of the tanks in BAOR were robbed of their E&MAs and probably some minor assemblies and components too.
In-Theatre, the tanks sat in a warm, non-damp desert environment, were run up regulalry and the crews took much better care of them. Availaibiltiy was at an all-time high.
This US reference is good:http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product126.html
Extract: “During Operation Desert Storm the CRARRV achieved a remarkable availability of 100 per cent; Challenger 1 itself achieved a very creditable 98 percent, with both vehicles averaging some 100 km per day during the entire campaign.
There is another story about those spares, of which relatively few were used…for another day.
I remember (I served 1975-2009) a Corps of 4 divs in Germany, a brigade in Berlin, a division-equivalent in NI, and many ‘home defence’ brigades in GB – and 900 tanks in the inventory.
How many guys do you need to call in an airstrike 😀
While your spot on with the numbers game and the various reductions, since my time 86 onwards all the jungle deployments have been Coy strength! Yes we had various Battalions in Belize, Brunei etc but you only ever got small formations in the jungle at any one time! It’s about experience for the lads as much as anything as the jungle is the hardest environment to operate in effectively IMHO! But as long as we still have, and able to get lads on the JWIC, in order to be able to teach, and the tracker course if poss, then we still have a depth of knowledge able to train others! Cheers.
Ah the jungle, hardest environment to live and operate in for any length of time bar none! Hard, but can be very compelling! Most horrible things have to be nearly 100% humidity, dry kit off wet kit back on, leeches, weight loss and breaking track and trying to set up a dipole comms tactically after putting out the claymores, just to lay down, comms done get the fucking claymores back in aaaaaagh!!!!!!! Oh and doing tactical river crossings next to signs as your 4 man team enter the water saying “danger crocodiles” FFS 🤬😂💩! Great days…….
Sounds horrible. Give me the sofa and iPhone any day of the week. Haha 99% of the population. Also is there WiFi in the jungle and do Starbucks deliver there😂😂😂
Sofa and I phone for me nowadays as well aaaaah bliss! Prob get Wi-Fi all over nowadays mate, as for Starbucks they deliver but it takes about 3 days moving about 4-5 km per day cross graining the friggin hills !!!!! 🤣
Sounds nice, I’m still in the wading through crocodile rivers bit, can’t wait for the sofas and iPhones!
This reminded me of my dad (1st Bn Queens Regt). in WW2 he was sent to Northern Ireland for jungle warfare training before shipping out to Burma and the XIV army. He was always amused by it!