As we exit Iraq and Afghanistan a new enemy is being presented. The Telegraph reports that General Sir David Richards, Chief of the Defence Staff told the Royal United Services Institute, “I am clear that the single biggest strategic risk facing the UK today is economic rather than military.”
The article added that British embassies in the eurozone have been told to prepare emergency plans for the demise of the euro and the possible civil disorder that could follow.
When was this said?
However, in his address on the 14th December, which can be read on the RUSI website, General Richards’ only comment remotely relating to this report was sensible and far from warlike: “The country’s main effort must be the economy. No country can defend itself if bankrupt.”
The article appears to take its cue from a top US military commander speaking four days earlier
A BBC report sent by a Moseley reader sheds light on this new ‘enemy’, superseding Russians and Muslims: the top US military commander, General Martin Dempsey, says he is concerned about “the potential for civil unrest” as Europe’s financial crisis unfolds. Gen Dempsey, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington think-tank: “The eurozone is at great risk.”
He suggested that part of his concern was that the US military could be exposed to any unravelling of the eurozone “because of the potential for civil unrest and the break-up of the union”.
The military-industrial complex must not be impoverished
He also manifested a tender concern for the arms industry, fearing that the development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft could be jeopardised if European national defence budgets were cut.
No stranger to the corporate world, three days ago it was announced that General Dempsey will lead a USO tour to boost the troops’ morale.
