Ministry of Defence stress testing how UK deal with war

[cleavers]

I work in support of the MoD at a HQ in the London area, so was vaguely aware of "preperation for war" through my job.

We've recenyly changed how we work from a shift pattern that covered 7am to 1am in support of the army and air force, to a shift pattern that now covers 24/7 through an "on call" setup.

Interesting to see this has now popped up on the bbc "Stress testing how UK would deal with war" I don't mean this to be scaremongering, because we could have been drawn into "war" at anytime since Feb 2022 when russia invaded Ukraine, and haven't been, nor do I think we will be, but it's good (in some ways) to know we are actually thinking ahead, and involving those who supply our armed forces.

As the picture shows drone manufacture will be important, but "the west" needs to up production of all kiinds of military kit, and the UK needs to be a big part of it.

Please try and avoid getting into discussion of other conflicts in this this thread, and be friendly to each other, I know it's a pretty difficult subject for most of us.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

Good to see government taking our Defence seriously. It’s been neglected for so long and, although none of us want to see us in a war situation, what has happened in Ukraine has brought Defence to the fore.

 

[inbetween]

I work in support of the MoD at a HQ in the London area, so was vaguely aware of "preperation for war" through my job.

We've recenyly changed how we work from a shift pattern that covered 7am to 1am in support of the army and air force, to a shift pattern that now covers 24/7 through an "on call" setup.

Interesting to see this has now popped up on the bbc "Stress testing how UK would deal with war" I don't mean this to be scaremongering, because we could have been drawn into "war" at anytime since Feb 2022 when russia invaded Ukraine, and haven't been, nor do I think we will be, but it's good (in some ways) to know we are actually thinking ahead, and involving those who supply our armed forces.

As the picture shows drone manufacture will be important, but "the west" needs to up production of all kiinds of military kit, and the UK needs to be a big part of it.

Please try and avoid getting into discussion of other conflicts in this this thread, and be friendly to each other, I know it's a pretty difficult subject for most of us.

It's more likely now that with Trump we'll see things start to calm down. There are comparisons to be made with how we stood against fascism in WW2 but had Nazi Germany possessed nuclear weapons then it would of been a different story. Sometimes you do have to make a deal with the devil.

It has to be remembered that Nazi Germany overtook most of Europe, that isn't the case here. Russia has taken a relatively small patch of land in Crimea and it has struggled to make any further headroom. This is without the entire NATO force participating, if NATO countries got involved then Russia would be defeated rapidly.

Unfortunately the game changer is nuclear weapons. As a result I think peace with Putin is now inevitable because it has to be. Nuclear weapons have saved us from war but unfortunately they'll also seal the fate for Ukraine who will probably have to accept territory loss as part of some peace settlement.

A secondary factor which nobody ever considers is China. China has its own nuclear weapon and that is it's stranglehold over the world economy. China could shutdown the US and Europe overnight without firing a single bullet. Are we stress testing our economy against these sort of threats? I'm not so sure.

 

[b6_brum]

It's more likely now that with Trump we'll see things start to calm down. There are comparisons to be made with how we stood against fascism in WW2 but had Nazi Germany possessed nuclear weapons then it would of been a different story. Sometimes you do have to make a deal with the devil.

It has to be remembered that Nazi Germany overtook most of Europe, that isn't the case here. Russia has taken a relatively small patch of land in Crimea and it has struggled to make any further headroom. This is without the entire NATO force participating, if NATO countries got involved then Russia would be defeated rapidly.

Unfortunately the game changer is nuclear weapons. As a result I think peace with Putin is now inevitable because it has to be. Nuclear weapons have saved us from war but unfortunately they'll also seal the fate for Ukraine who will probably have to accept territory loss as part of some peace settlement.

A secondary factor which nobody ever considers is China. China has its own nuclear weapon and that is it's stranglehold over the world economy. China could shutdown the US and Europe overnight without firing a single bullet. Are we stress testing our economy against these sort of threats? I'm not so sure.

I feel it's more for the other thread but it's only not the case because of the heroic efforts of the Ukraine Armed Forces who have held off the so called 2nd largest military power in the world for nearly 3 years. The human cost has been devastating and if they hadn't exceeded their expectations Mr Putin would technically be sharing a border with Poland now and dipping his nose into the Baltics.

NATO's main player could pull back next year so Europe & ourselves are seriously going to have to seriously up our game if we want to protect our western democratic freedoms over the next couple of decades, because it's under threat more than it has been at any stage in all of our lifetimes, both directly and indirectly. The Poles are one of the few who seem to get it.

 

[Magicpole]

It's more likely now that with Trump we'll see things start to calm down. There are comparisons to be made with how we stood against fascism in WW2 but had Nazi Germany possessed nuclear weapons then it would of been a different story. Sometimes you do have to make a deal with the devil.

It has to be remembered that Nazi Germany overtook most of Europe, that isn't the case here. Russia has taken a relatively small patch of land in Crimea and it has struggled to make any further headroom. This is without the entire NATO force participating, if NATO countries got involved then Russia would be defeated rapidly.

Unfortunately the game changer is nuclear weapons. As a result I think peace with Putin is now inevitable because it has to be. Nuclear weapons have saved us from war but unfortunately they'll also seal the fate for Ukraine who will probably have to accept territory loss as part of some peace settlement.

A secondary factor which nobody ever considers is China. China has its own nuclear weapon and that is it's stranglehold over the world economy. China could shutdown the US and Europe overnight without firing a single bullet. Are we stress testing our economy against these sort of threats? I'm not so sure.

China wouldn’t kill its golden goose. They as a culture, now and for thousands of years, know it’s all about the ability to play the long game. They will be the economic powerhouse. They don’t achieve that by destroying the source of that power.

Preparation for war is a natural contingency all our Govt’s need to do. Contingency Planning. This is nothing new, although interesting in itself.

 

[grunge]

It's more likely now that with Trump we'll see things start to calm down. There are comparisons to be made with how we stood against fascism in WW2 but had Nazi Germany possessed nuclear weapons then it would of been a different story. Sometimes you do have to make a deal with the devil.

It has to be remembered that Nazi Germany overtook most of Europe, that isn't the case here. Russia has taken a relatively small patch of land in Crimea and it has struggled to make any further headroom. This is without the entire NATO force participating, if NATO countries got involved then Russia would be defeated rapidly.

Unfortunately the game changer is nuclear weapons. As a result I think peace with Putin is now inevitable because it has to be. Nuclear weapons have saved us from war but unfortunately they'll also seal the fate for Ukraine who will probably have to accept territory loss as part of some peace settlement.

A secondary factor which nobody ever considers is China. China has its own nuclear weapon and that is it's stranglehold over the world economy. China could shutdown the US and Europe overnight without firing a single bullet. Are we stress testing our economy against these sort of threats? I'm not so sure.

Pretty sure that would be the economic equivalent of MAD. They could do it but they would be taking down their own economy with it.

 

[bluethrunthru]

aware of "preperation for war"

do we start with the correct spelling "preparation" 100 times?

 

[Scottyboi]

Pretty sure that would be the economic equivalent of MAD. They could do it but they would be taking down their own economy with it.

China could be destroyed via faming if it really came down to it, rather we all just got along!

 

[inbetween]

Pretty sure that would be the economic equivalent of MAD. They could do it but they would be taking down their own economy with it.

Of course but in terms of war that's what they could do.

It's not just that but they're also buying influence through BRICS. An alliance is forming there that is going to align much of the south and east to China. We meanwhile have chosen to prioritise our relationship with the US and under Trump the US is highly likely to start a trade war with China soon. Ironically he'll probably also start a trade war with Europe!

I feel we worry about these physical wars but actually the west is economically broken and is far more vulnerable to global economic shocks than military threats.

The Ukraine war just for example has broken us all personally in our wallets with the crazy inflationary pressures. Nobody realises that the price of wholesale gas is today 1328% higher than pre-2022/COVID, at its peak when the war started it was 6500% higher!

A physical war is never going to happen because it would probably mean the end of humanity whereas a trade war and war over resources? That's the big one. And what are we doing about it, are we for example assuring our energy supply by decreasing foreign reliance? No, we've just gone to the next cheapest foreign provider, the consumer has accepted the 1328% higher price and the show goes on.

 

[Blue Maverick]

It's more likely now that with Trump we'll see things start to calm down. There are comparisons to be made with how we stood against fascism in WW2 but had Nazi Germany possessed nuclear weapons then it would of been a different story. Sometimes you do have to make a deal with the devil.

It has to be remembered that Nazi Germany overtook most of Europe, that isn't the case here. Russia has taken a relatively small patch of land in Crimea and it has struggled to make any further headroom. This is without the entire NATO force participating, if NATO countries got involved then Russia would be defeated rapidly.

Unfortunately the game changer is nuclear weapons. As a result I think peace with Putin is now inevitable because it has to be. Nuclear weapons have saved us from war but unfortunately they'll also seal the fate for Ukraine who will probably have to accept territory loss as part of some peace settlement.

A secondary factor which nobody ever considers is China. China has its own nuclear weapon and that is it's stranglehold over the world economy. China could shutdown the US and Europe overnight without firing a single bullet. Are we stress testing our economy against these sort of threats? I'm not so sure.

Listening to a podcast discussion on this and it could go a different way with Trump, he doesn’t want to be seen as Putin puppet, he could phone old Vlad and say you’ll get territory but Ukraine get NATO, membership that wpuld fuck up his expansion plans. The worry the West have is if Trump pulls out and Ukraine falls, Putin will then take a sliver of a Baltic NATO country it doesn’t even have to be much, this should invoke article 5, now if NATO doesn’t not respond, NATO effectively falls apart. Watching a YouTube discussion on NATO V Russia it will be 1000 Russian to 1 NATO lives lost in any conflict, NATO will wipe the floor with them but then you have the nuclear question. I’m hoping Trump pulls a blinder because he doesn’t want his first policy to be a victory to Russia, although I won’t hold my breath.