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.

  • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
    92·
    1 day ago

    I think this is the salient point of the article.

    Like everyone without security clearance, I can make no well-informed statement on the extent to which any of them, nuclear or conventional, are operationally independent of the US.

    And with this article, he definitely hasn’t made any well informed statements.

      • mannycalavera@feddit.uk
        52·
        22 hours ago

        Yes thank you, I do. Do you know what conspiracy rhetoric looks like?

        Monbiot can make, and has, any wishy-washy allegations and hide behind “oh but it’s all behind closed doors so just trust me, yeah?” to appeal to his “the truth is out there” readers.

        He’s classic guardian contrarian opinion writer.