A WARNING FROM BRITAIN – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  John McCain, see post just below, is warning of isolationism.  One ingredient of isolationism is the hollowing out of national defense.  Just look at what is happening in Britain, which is being run by a presumably conservative government.  From the Daily Mail:

The armed forces have had an unexpected shock as the Army braces itself for a mass exodus of officers and soldiers.

One thousand of the Army’s brightest servicemen have applied for voluntary redundancy.

Army bosses originally asked for 500 servicemen to take voluntary redundancy, but have received more than 900 applications, according to figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph.

This number includes 52 colonels, although only 25 had been expected to offer to leave.

Low morale and the pending defence cuts are cited as the reason why so many soldiers and officers want to leave.

Colonel Bob Stewart, who was commanding officer of the British battalion in Bosnia, said that the balance in Army life has changed.

‘The state of army morale is clearly not good. Exercises and the fun of being in the Army has largely been cut down.’

And...

The defence budget is set to fall by eight per cent over the next four years. The MoD is to cut its civilian personnel by 25,000 by 2015 and Army numbers will be reduced by 7,000 to 95,500.

A report is due to be published next month on how more personnel and equipment programmes could be axed.

COMMENT:  Britain's force is being reduced to the level where it will no longer be effective.  The Royal Navy has become a shadow of what it once was.  Even the RAF is in for substantial cuts.

And where will the "savings" go?  Well, Britain has become a welfare state.  Guess.

We've written here before that there are two Britains – Churchill's Britain and the other one.  I'm afraid the other one is winning.

And it can happen here.  Remember, that as the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor, the United States ranked 15th in the armies of the world.  As the World War II generation fades into history, we may well forget that disgrace.

June 19, 2011