Should GB be a world power

I don't think I suggested bombing the whole of the Middle East?!!! I said that the ME is running rings round the West which indeed it is! As for saying that a coalition of countries in the M E must be done. I agree, but saying it is the easy bit. How exactly would you do this?-who can you trust?!! If you have a plan please tell us!

So I think Margaret has answered your question, Anniebach?
Is anybody surprised at her reply? I can't imagine it chimes with the pacifist sympathies you were expressing when you talked of the "bring our troops home" soundbites.
Well done Margaret's sons and well done Margaret, you can be rightly proud of them!

As I understand it Police funding hasn't been cut?!

There has already been cuts in police spending

Yes, well done Margaret for sharing your views with us.

There will be no police funding cuts this next year.

Yes my previous post may look naive but I believe it will happen one day, though not before a lot more suffering and violence, unfortunately. There is nothing like a common enemy to bring people together, be it a crazy group of people, catastrophic natural or man made disasters, or perhaps visitors from another planet!
How stupid the west was to not share its intelligence about ISIS with Russia, what harm could it have done? Recently I heard on the BBC that the Jihadis are now moving around with the general population for safety. Also that they are trying to obtain chemical and nuclear weapons. It is only a matter of time before they or some other group does so.
I do think Britain still has some greatness, but it is on the way out. We have some amazing people serving in the forces and behind the scenes, a pity that the ones in power are mostly self serving idiots and that too many of the upcoming generation are not receiving the sort of education/training to maintain the standards of capability and responsibility that our generation had and passed on to our children. You only have to try calling a govt office, helpline etc to see what the immediate future holds.
Power has always gone in cycles, empires have been and gone, but with globalisation and the Internet, and our total economic interdependence, it may be that over the next 50-100 years instead of a new world power rising up there will be a global levelling out of poverty, wealth and influence as we realise that our security depends on the security of the rest of the world. That may sound like more naivety but many scientists, philosophers and humanitarians are beginning to have faith in the future.

nigglienellie can't you reply to a post without insulting others (e.g. calling them naive) or being sarcastic?

No, I don't have a plan or know who to contact. That's the role of intelligence officers and diplomats. Given many of the local groups/countries are being supported by the international coalition, it shouldn't be too hard to identify who should be part of any such coalition. I will say again that everybody understands each faction or country has its own agenda. The challenge at this point is to get them working together to defeat ISIL. What happens after that is a challenge for the future.

After the first World War and the fall of the Ottoman empire, the new borders in the Middle East were drawn up by Europeans without much knowledge of the region’s people, geography and customs. This caused many of the ongoing conflicts in the region. Many of the brutal dictatorships that lasted for decades have now fallen, so maybe we're approaching the time when the region’s more 'natural' nations to emerge.

If you read my post properly you will see that I was agreeing with another posters remark about the naivety of some people on this thread. I don't think that I need permission from anyone to agree a former comment. You seem to be so emphatic about what the factions in the ME should be doing. I merely enquired as to how they could be persuaded to get to the position of discourse, as opposed to fighting. A perfectly valid question I would have thought.

DH was in the Gulf. He saw and did things that still give him nightmares. He doesn't think we should bomb or put in ground troops.

Thank you Vampirequeen for replying.

I agree with your DH, vampire. My brother was also in the Gulf War. He also has nightmares.

That word "should" appears again. Why is there any should about it? We either are a world power or we aren't and that's all there is to it.

Whether anyone should regard GB (did you mean GB, vamp, or the UK, and if the former, why aren't you including Northern Ireland? Just asking because curious) as a world power is debatable. Personally I don't care whether we are or aren't nor whether anyone regards us as a world power or not. I do care about how we, as a country, behave.

Another question: why shouldn't British industry have to fight to survive in a competitive global market? Every other country's ndustry has to. Why should we be different?

Some countries subsidise their industries so we're not competing on a level playing field.

Apologies for using GB rather than UK. No intention of forgetting or insulting Northern Ireland.

Surely life itself is not " fair ". So some countries subsidise their industries, then surely the answer is that what we make must be better quality. At one time Sheffield steel was considered the best in the world, now you can't tell me no-one else in the world was making steel? The best of everything will always be the most sought after.
Returning to the original topic for a moment, and ISIL not being an exact target as were Hitler and the Nazis do you doubt for one minute that we have SAS on the round in Syria? I don't. With today's technology we can pinpoint targets in a way that was unthought of 50 years ago. Mass bombing such as we had in the 2nd world war, on both sides, is not necessary. And yes, civilians will be killed, but at the end of the day that is because we can't agree to get along with each other.
As for doing business in the ME, no 2 son flies all over the world for business, and doing it in China, Taiwan, India, poses the same problems. He said jokingly to me "the trouble is Mum, they don't have the English concept of a man's word being his bond."
Thanks for the encouraging posts. I'm just a 78 year old Gran, and have given up thinking I can change the world!!!!!
Margaret

Thanks for the clarification, vamp. It is what I assumed you meant

Some UK industries are subsidised by government.

Margaret you do write such sensible realistic posts. Your sons remark totally echoes what my DH used to say many years ago when conducting business in the ME. Of course life isn't fair and a lot of life is luck, one way or the other. Luck where you're born, what era you're born in, and the circumstances you're born into. One generation earlier it would have been me not my mother who was the war widow, if it hadn't been for a chance encounter she would never have met and married my much loved step father. Had my father lived who knows how life would have panned out?! Like you though I'm just Granny to my beloved grandchildren who probably doesn't know an awful lot and has to be indulged!!!

NigglyNellie
Exactly.....we know nothing......and we don't even come from Barcelona (Fawlty Towers)! When my girls had babies I was informed things had changed from my day, and I thought to myself, maybe but babies haven't. The same daughter said to me a couple of years back "it's a shame every generation has to find out the same things for itself, instead of just being content to build on what's known" . I never said a word!!!

Why does this sound familiar!!! Like you, I said (and do say!) Nothing!!!

MargaretinNorthant

I like the way you post .

Me too!

But to bring in another aspect. The West makes money from rebuilding the infrastructure of countries reduced to rubble by conflict. Is one of the reasons for expanding air strike to make sure we get a bite of that huge cherry?
Wilma
That is shocking and cynical. Have you seen any pictures of the state of Syria already?

Anyway - the proposed air strikes would be targeted to avoid civilian casualties as far as possible, so not a huge bombing raid like those in WW2 destroying vast amounts of infrastructure in the process. (Do some people not understand that?). It is because Britain has the expertise to do that that we have been requested to help.

Just read Margaret's last post, and I see I have echoed what she said

"And yes, civilians will be killed, but at the end of the day that is because we can't agree to get along with each other. "

Oh that's ok then. So long as the children know why they are being horribly maimed.

I wish I could be so certain of the right thing to do.