What's he gonna do, wave his hankie at us?
/
Royal defense: King Charles coming to Canada to send Trump message about 51st state
Britain has one aircraft carrier — unfortunately, the funds aren’t available to equip it with planes, but it looks pretty impressive even without them. Their submarine fleet, such as it is, is obsolete and sinking, and their army has shrunk to nothing. In fact, Britain has nothing to offer Canada should the US invade, as the hysterics up there seem to believe we will. In fact, fellas, we don’t want either of you, or your pathetic, failing countries.
The weaknesses in Britain's contribution to Nato became starkly apparent in February this year, when a group of British MPs visited a Nato military site in Tapa, Estonia, where British soldiers are deployed (alongside Danish and French troops). The point of the base is to deter or slow down an invasion from Russia - which is just 80 miles away over a land border.
Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP and former British Army Officer, said the Estonia visit was like going back in time, seeing the same equipment as when he first joined the Army as a reservist in 2004: ageing Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior armoured vehicles. What one former General described to me as "legacy kit from the 1980's" - old and dwindling in numbers.
About 1,000 British troops are stationed at the site. At the time of the MPs' visit they were armed with some drones - though not many. Nor did they have much in the way of systems to block or jam enemy drones, either. They also have a handful of long-range artillery guns - important for land warfare. The British Army currently has a total of just 14. Even tiny Estonia has double that number.