UK Defense Ministry On Alert

[KimberlyD]

The UK's defense ministry has been on alert watching Russian ships in the English Channel.

Britain's Ministry of Defense says it is monitoring the activities of a Russian destroyer and two other ships in the English Channel. The ministry says the destroyer, a tanker and a support ship are passing through the waters while returning from the Mediterranean. Officials said "no exercises were seen" — some reports had suggested the ships were to carry out military drills — but that the Royal Navy's HMS Argyll is monitoring the ships Tuesday. In November the Royal Navy monitored a squadron of Russian warships as they moved through the Strait of Dover after carrying out exercises in the North Sea.

 

[missbishi]

There's a percieved threat from Russia and a very real threat from ISIS yet the government still insists on scaling back our troops and spending £220m on improving the Falkland's defences. I'm pretty sure they have their priorities all wrong!

 

[TommyVercetti]

Reminiscent of WW2- all the previous wars actually. It's standard fare I believe for these kinds of indirect provocations to occur. Probably sabre rattling, trying to suss out the response time of the UK, and also their tactics in dealing with these destroyers. The Russians also fly migs into UK airspace from time to time for the same reason.

 

[Redheart]

Shouldn't the defense ministry always be alert? The over-reliance on NATO allies to make the first response to any aggression might prove to be disastrous in future should any enemy decide to attack without warning. They'll catch the Brits unprepared.

 

[KimberlyD]

With Putin pushing for war, they would be idiots to scale back on their military. They should be increasing it! Putin has already started a cold war with Britain, how long until it goes hot. In the cold war with Russia and the US it was not so bad because the chances of it turning into all out conflict were minimal.... but the chances with Britain and Russia are high.

 

[Redheart]

But the UK knows NATO will come to her aid should Russia attack. So confident are they in NATO's military superiority over Russia that they've grown complacent. So while the likelihood of Russia attacking a NATO member state any country must always be prepared to wage war against any aggressor without help from allies because you never know when you can't count on them.

 

[KimberlyD]

That is NATO's mistake. Russia opened their dealings with China and Saudi Arabia selling them their missile defense system. If they were to attack the UK, they would have most likely will have them as backing. NATO can not withstand a fight against Russia if they have China and/or Saudi Arabia backing them up. It would be too much for them to handle.