New UK Base in Mid East: I Beg Your Pardon?

Of all the declarations made by this fag end coalition government, well past its sell by date and beset by confusion and muddle on all sides, none can be more unexpected that the announcement of a new permanent naval base in the most autocratic and human rights averse of the Gulf States. If we forget the money, much of which Bahrain will cough up, what is the purpose of this? Has the MOD and the inept Foreign Office not noticed that the more we project power and employ military assets, the more the terrorists multiply and the bigger the threat becomes? So far we have had a big hand in turning Iraq and Libya into failed states, fanning the civil war in Syria and inaugurating the very conditions which has enabled ISIS to set up a terrorist state.

At last we have withdrawn from Afghanistan and our military posture begins to resemble a more rational format, only to set off again. Meanwhile we read reports about poor morale among RAF personnel engaged in the so called fight against Islamic State, because the ageing aircraft being used in combat missions are so unreliable that the majority of those deployed to the mission are out of service for most of the time. So back to the money. We are cutting the size of the state. Swinging cuts are on the way, which will hit, if the Tories are anything to do with the next government, those already battered into falling living standards, yet we think we can afford grand gestures of power projection long after our time for that has passed.

This is a mistake. It needs to be stopped.