The prospect of an increasingly isolationist American foreign policy under President Donald Trump means that the UK must be ready to fight wars without the help of the United States, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told The Sunday Times.
The possibility of the U.S. disengaging from world affairs “keeps me awake at night,” Wallace admitted, adding that if the Americans withdraw from their leadership position around the world, "that would be bad for the world and bad for us. We plan for the worst and hope for the best."
The defense chief stressed that part of the British planning must be to diversify the nation's military’s assets, because "the assumptions of 2010 that we were always going to be part of a US coalition is really just not where we are going to be. We are very dependent on American air cover and American intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets.”
He said such a reality, highlighted by the American pullback from Syria and Trump’s statement that NATO should take over and do more in the Middle East, must be a vital part of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s promised review of the defense and foreign policy.
Wallace emphasized that Britain must “embrace new technology" and have a more modern approach to deal with changing threats in an increasingly technological world.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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