Phil Miller – Daily Maverick.co.za Nov 24, 2021
Britain’s armed forces have a far more extensive base network than ever presented by the Ministry of Defence. New research by Declassified reveals the extent of this global military presence for the first time – as the government announces an extra 10% spending on defence.
- UK military has base sites in five countries around China: naval base in Singapore, garrisons in Brunei, drone testing sites in Australia, three facilities in Nepal and quick reaction force in Afghanistan
- Cyprus hosts 17 UK military installations including firing ranges and spy stations, with some located outside UK’s “sovereign base areas”
- Britain maintains military presence in seven Arab monarchies where citizens have little or no say in how they are governed
- UK personnel are stationed across 15 sites in Saudi Arabia, supporting internal repression and the war in Yemen, and at 16 sites in Oman, some run directly by British military
- In Africa, British troops are based in Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Mali
- Many UK overseas bases are located in tax havens such as Bermuda and Cayman Islands
Britain’s military has a permanent presence at 145 base sites in 42 countries or territories around the world, research by Declassified UK has found.
The size of this global military presence is far larger than previously thought and is likely to mean that the UK has the second largest military network in the world, after the United States.
It is the first time the true size of this network has been revealed.
The UK uses 17 separate military installations in Cyprus as well as 15 in Saudi Arabia and 16 in Oman – the latter both dictatorships with whom the UK has especially close military relations.
The UK’s base sites include 60 it manages itself in addition to 85 facilities run by its allies where the UK has a significant presence.
These appear to fit the description of what General Mark Carleton-Smith, Britain’s Chief of the General Staff, recently termed as “lily pads” – sites which the UK has easy access to as and when required.
Declassified has not included in the figures the UK’s small troop contributions to UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan or the Cyprus buffer zone, nor staffing commitments at NATO administrative sites in Europe or most of its special forces deployments, which are largely unknown.
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The findings come days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an extra £16-billion would be spent on the UK military over the next four years – a 10% increase.
The spending announcement was originally meant to be combined with a review of defence strategy, that was being championed by Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings.
The results of Whitehall’s “integrated defence review” are now not expected until next year. Indications suggest the review will recommend a traditional British strategy of building more overseas military bases.
Last month, former Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the UK needs a more permanent presence in the Asia-Pacific region. The current Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, has gone further. In September he announced a £23.8-million investment to expand Britain’s army and navy bases in Oman, to accommodate the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers as well as many tanks.
General Carleton-Smith recently said: “We think there is a market for a more persistent presence from the British Army (in Asia).”
His superior, Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter, spoke more cryptically when he said the military’s future “posture will be engaged and forward deployed.”
ENCIRCLING CHINA?
Britain is ‘Airstrip One’. An expendable American proxy. It is the British – ever desperate for American money – who are used to destabilise those regimes that Wall Street doesn’t like.
And WHO is paying for it?.The fact that British employees are paid LESS than their equivalents in other Western European countries suggests the British public is.
But hold on a minute…the British elites are RICHER than their fellow elites in Europe….THIS thanks to the massive corruption of the city…offshore bank accounts hidden in the Caribbean for example.No wonder Assange is rotting in the British Gulag Belmarsh prison.He revealed that Queenie has money stashed over there.Belmarsh even has the secret underground tunnels leading to a courtroom…just like Moscow.
The British Railway system suffers from massive under investment….with no exclusive high speed railway track….However there IS investment in the underground in The City…..of course.
So Britain is acting like a big shot on the world stage…..but it doesnt have the income to do it….its called over reach.
Now back home the elites are getting around things by bringing in cheap Labour from abroad.This can work for some time UNTIL the imported people begin to undermine what actually gave rise to Britains success in the first place.And of course there are large swathes of disenfranchised native British who have to be kept “happy” otherwise they might start finding alternatives to football and television.
British industry has been stripped of its value….and nothing could be sadder than the fate of the Land Rover…..it isnt even British owned anymore.
In every sphere Toyota produces a better product…..Toyota IS quality and surpasses even the Germans for reliability.
However Britain produces hugely expensive low volume vehicles for its rich class….
Sir Richard Brandstein has capitalised on all this stuff by getting subsidies from the taxpayers to keep his railways afloat….but the point is IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN PRIVATISED….privatisation was just another scam to get hold of public assets and make a few people rich.
Even small countries of low population regularly take the English football team to the cleaners….AND the non tax paying elite treat the club teams as a cash cow….think of that Russian Jewish thieving oligarch Abramovich.
Some American based Jewish billionaires tried on a new money scam just recently…and they were surprisingly knocked back.
Those two new aircraft carriers must have cost a packet….one of them meeting Davy Jones Locker would however,be a perfect false flag.
Recall that the top Jews controlling Britain and the US still seek to remove Iran from the middle east equation…..they’ll need a giant war to do it
The experience gained and expertise needed to run an empire would have been wasted if it just got thrown in the bin. Americans had no such skill or experience. The citizens do not even learn geography.
Of Mice and Men . The big slow man was under the behest of the small clever man.
It is the same with Britain and U S A bit like cabala what you see isn’t what it really is.
. The war of Independence was a farce, Britain did not lose America . The plebs in America thought they had this thing called freedom or as they called it Liberty They did not. That is why they had this so called “special relationship”
pays rothschild from his East Indian Comp – opium deals – Tipu
Sultans treasure ? last quake of a lost empire !
Forgets to mention or doesn’t know about the UK’s terrorist mercenary armies and networks. These come and go depending on the theaters in play, such as Syria and Lybia. The point is, they have a base (pun intended) level and they can build their numbers rapidly. In countries where the UK doesn’t have a base/facility, they have the SAS operating, such as Iran where I would think the SAS is on the ground in Iran 24/7, 365 days a year. I’m also sure the SAS are in Ukraine and that they dip in and out of the Dombas and Crimea.
Those limp-wristed slack-jawed faggots couldn’t fight their way out of a potato sack, just like the Jew-S-A military. Gee, I don’t think history yields any lessons about empires who were stretched far too thin, so everything should work out ok….