The question no one dares ask: what if Britain has to defend itself from the US? | George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
So much of our intelligence and military systems are shared or reliant on the US – if it becomes the enemy, it is already inside the gates, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

All the talk now is of how we might defend ourselves without the US. But almost everyone with a voice in public life appears to be avoiding a much bigger and more troubling question: how we might defend ourselves against the US.

As Keir Starmer visits the orange emperor’s court in Washington, let’s first consider the possibilities. I can’t comment on their likelihood, and I fervently hope that people with more knowledge and power than me are gaming them. One is that Donald Trump will not only clear the path for Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, but will actively assist him.

Now consider our vulnerabilities. Through the “Five Eyes” partnership, the UK automatically shares signals intelligence, human intelligence and defence intelligence with the US government. Edward Snowden’s revelations showed that the US, with the agreement of our government, conducts wholesale espionage on innocent UK citizens. The two governments, with other western nations, run a wide range of joint intelligence programmes, such as Prism, Echelon, Tempora and XKeyscore. The US National Security Agency (NSA) uses the UK agency GCHQ as a subcontractor.

  • slakemoth@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Thought provoking piece if a little misguided Monbiot is usually about geopolitics.

    I think that the main reason Europe is ramping up it’s defence spending and reducing welfare is because Trump has threatened to pull out of Nato, leaving Europe without any military defence. Whatever you think about the military, its clear this would make liberal leaders uneasy. The republicans have long considered Europe to be spongers off the USA. This increase in spending is probably due to some wrangling going on behind the scenes.

    It shows how little power Europe has against the USA. If any country really deviated from USA’s agenda they would be really risking USA denying them nato support or other Usain infrastructure.