Another Blair speech on defence

The press are preparing for a major speech by the Prime Minister in Plymouth today on the future of Britain's forces and calling for a national debate on defence. We will comment on that later, while noting briefly here that with the decision apparently already made on the continuation of the British nuclear deterrent and the main opposition party self-silenced on anything connected with the EU, such debate seems likely to be a pretty futile exercise. The Cardiff speech by Tony Blair on Europe on 28th November 2002, was significant and although presently impossible to trace as predicted in my post on Ironies on 1st May, 2003, linked here contained this passage by Blair: The basic ideology should be described in this way. Europe is the voluntary coming together of sovereign nations. Their will is to combine together in the institutions of Europe in order to further their common interests. In so far as it is necessary to achieve these interests, they therefore pool their sovereignty in Europe. There is no arbitrary or fixed limit as to what they do collectively; but whether they do it depends on their decision as a group of nations. So whilst the origin of European power is the will of sovereign nations, European power nonetheless exists and has its own authority and capability to act. The St Malo declaration on joint Anglo/Franco defence co-operation should also be remembered as we listen to the Plymouth speech. Much has occurred since these events, not least in Iraq and events presently underway in Washington make Blair's timing unfortunate. NATO itself seems at risk in Afghanistan and the lack of agreed multinational rules of engagement in that theatre might prove the death knell, if not of NATO itself then almost certainly for any further dreams of a common EU foreign and defence policy. My post below indicates where joint EU military action is most likely to lead, namely the suppression of internal EU protest as democratic rights continue to falter across the continent.