Is There No End To This Man's Generosity?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/mali/9831722/Prime-Minister-wants-to-do-more-to-help-in-Mali-conflict.html

[emmie]

no, he says he wants to help those in need, quietly forgetting some here..

[vakayu]

Planning to don a uniform and go himself then?lol

[Zeuhl]

Scandalous

What does it matter to us if Al Qaeda and their friends take over the entire southern Mediterranean and north Africa?

[Bazile]

I should it would matter to us in the long run

[emmie]

perhaps we have more enemies within, maybe the police, security services should be concentrating their efforts there

[naomi24]

Zeuhl, I like your style. ;o)

[Zeuhl]

em

separate and both important

Police and MI5 have responsibility for internal security

MI6 and armed forces are the ones who are currently assessing if small intervention now in Mali etc could payback later

[Bazile]

Oh right , sarcasm

[Zeuhl]

Bang to rights :-)

[jno]

a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing.

[naomi24]

Not so far away - and not entirely unknown.

[jno]

further away than Czechoslovakia, naomi

[naomi24]

Golly! Al Qaeda haven't infiltrated Czechoslovakia too, have they?! Yikes!

[pdq1]

Even the US has seen how fruitless it is to intervene in these backward countries who mix famine and mass slaughtering into the same pot. A third way is required that doesn't involve sending in heavy weaponry that kills part of the virus but the disease becomes more virulent. Maybe for all we know the food aid just allows these militants to grow up and survive.

[sandyRoe]

Czechoslovakia is no more.

[sp1814]

I have what on the face of it, is going to sound like a pretty dumb question, but At the point when the army withdraws from Afghanistan, and end all engagements in the Middle East...what peace-keeping initiative should they engage in???

Obviously, we can't simply dismantle our forces - so what should they do (assuming that there is pressure from within to prevent them from engaging in any foreign conflicts in which our interests aren't directly affected)?

Serious question.

[sandyRoe]

We should keep enough for 'Ceremonial Duties' at Buck House and Windsor(for the tourists) and let the rest go.

[sp1814]

sandyRoe

Not sure about that...whatshername in Argentina keeps banging on about the Falklands. Need a few good men and women to send over in case she ever decides 'the time is right' again.

[pdq1]

SP maybe they could be employed in internal duties. The Northern Ireland problem won't go away and many NI police were injured in recent riots. Then there is the no go areas in our big cities which the police seem unable to control. They could be an attachment to our Border Force which is undermanned and allows many immigrants to enter the country illegally. Or they could do civil duties to cope with disasters like the flooding recently. We see what could be done when they built a bridge in Cockermouth after heavy flooding which knocked out the bridges.

[sp1814]

pdq1

Funnily enough, I was thinking of Northern Ireland as I wrote my question, but then rejected it thinking of the message it would send out. Some would see it as a return of an 'occupying force'. I wonder whether that could unravel what's been achieved over the past 20 years.

And whilst I agree with you that manpower would be of great benefit when the country is undergoing a seemingly increasing number of natural disasters - I don't think a permanent deployment of troops in case of flooding etc would make financial sense...because we don't really have that many yet.

Armed border controls? I think out of all if your suggestions, that one would have the most support across the country, simply because, in conflict areas, the army is already trained in civilian movement control.

AOG - how does that sound?