Defense cuts spark questions on Britain’s post-empire role focus 10/19/2010

Defense cuts spark questions on Britain’s post-empire role

focus

10/19/2010
LONDON—The prospect of savage cuts to the defense budget as the government battles to cut a huge deficit has revived a decades-old debate in Britain — is it losing its status as a global power?

Prime Minister David Cameron has stepped in to mediate between the Treasury — which initially demanded defense cuts of up to 20 percent — and military chiefs who warn that cuts over four percent could endanger national security.

Defense Secretary Liam Fox has been another long-term opponent of heavy reductions — in a leaked letter to Cameron last month, he warned of a fierce backlash if “draconian” cuts were made while Britain was at war in Afghanistan.

Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has weighed into the debate, saying she was worried by the prospect of defense cuts in Britain, the second-biggest supplier of foreign troops in Afghanistan after the US.
After Cameron’s intervention, the 42 billion euro ($59 billion) defense budget now faces likely cuts of seven or eight percent in the defence review to be unveiled Monday and Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s overall spending review, the BBC reported..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101019com6.html