tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post8534983304997677532..comments2024-03-28T07:16:39.621+00:00Comments on Lallands Peat Worrier: That exclusive Kinlochbervie Chronicle latest...Lallands Peat Worrierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18276270498204697708noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-31828670465043620202012-04-19T20:00:07.396+01:002012-04-19T20:00:07.396+01:00Angus,
I tend to agree with the general thrust of...Angus,<br /><br />I tend to agree with the general thrust of your observation, and particularly your last point about the implication these things should be quietly stitched up by collusive elites, Scottish or anything else. For me, I'm instinctively exceedingly hostile to anything that would tie an independent Scotland in to any sort of organisation given to military adventures and an aggrandised sense of its jurisdiction to wage war, for whatever ends.Lallands Peat Worrierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238432265194046726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1638916042737526171.post-37770603306856532822012-04-15T20:52:17.228+01:002012-04-15T20:52:17.228+01:00This would be funnier if there wasn't the risk...This would be funnier if there wasn't the risk of it proving prescient. <br /><br />At the risk of repeating myself, <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/opinion/comment/jennifer-dempsie-forcing-the-issue-of-scotland-s-defence-options-1-2224930" rel="nofollow">£2.5bn</a> is a give-away. What that much money produces is a Danish-style military and minding their own business is something the Danes gave up on in the 1990s which is why their army was in Iraq and is in Afghanistan. (For background <a href="http://www.duo.uio.no/sok/work.html?WORKID=91761" rel="nofollow">this master's thesis</a> is a helpful guide to post-Cold War Danish and Norwegian defence policy.)<br /><br />Defence policy is a serious business and shouldn't be settled behind closed doors by the political elite. Not only are there human consequences from flawed policies, there are also financial ones. And the difference between a Danish-style defence model and an Irish-style one amounts to a not-so-trival £780 per household each year at present values.Angus McLellanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14238976801715524150noreply@blogger.com