I would think that should there be such 'police stations' they would have been shutdown by the police already, all across the planet, but and yet, here we are, as was the case of no sign of rice grain sized spy chips in coffee makers, nothing more about balloons, and so shall go the same way w/ the ghost police stations
in the mean time, I believe 2030 is smack dab between 2026 / 2032
it is like, ... well ... like the UK saying let's get ready for war with Russia and China, but try to keep the preparation within reasonable limit, say to 72,500 troops, but failing to note that there are Chinese police stations in Britain
so, in the case of USA, the phone book and internet both work well, should be an easy matter to call up one of these stations and say hello, I would have thought, and certainly easier than spotting a grain of rice-sized spy chip in a coffee maker :0)
As too the 72,500 troops, ought to be enough :0)))
But Ben does seem to be auditioning for a new job, with all the perks and no real responsibility, and certainly no accountability. Test one, a trick question, "Ben, what do you think about Russia and China?"
But he appeared to reject calls by critics to reverse his decision to cut 9,500 troops from the army, reducing it to 72,500 — its smallest size since the Napoleonic era — arguing new technology will allow fewer personnel to deliver greater effect.
ft.com
UK defence secretary warns of threat of wider global conflict by end of decade
Ben Wallace urges firm timetable for increasing military spending to 2.5% of GDP
11 hours ago
UK defence secretary Ben Wallace visits cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst © Kirsty O’Connor/PA
Defence secretary Ben Wallace has warned of the threat of wider global conflict by the end of the decade as he called for a firm timetable for increasing UK military spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
“By the end of the decade, the world will be a more dangerous, unstable place and defence will be more critical to our lives,” he said, highlighting the risk of a wider conflict with Russia, following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the threat posed by a “rising China” and the rise of extremism in Africa.
The world is seeing “the end of the abnormal period [of peace] post-cold war”, he told the Financial Times. “I think a conflict is coming, whether it’s hot or cold is to be seen?.?.?.?I think a conflict is coming with a range of adversaries around the world?.?.?.?We need to all be prepared for it.”
The warning by the UK defence secretary, who has been central in rallying wider European support for Ukraine, was accompanied by a plea to chancellor Jeremy Hunt to put a timeframe on the commitment to lift the defence budget from 2.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
In the Budget in March, Hunt promised the defence ministry an extra £11bn over the next five years. The chancellor also reiterated the government’s “aspiration” to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the longer term but did not specify a timeframe.
Wallace said he welcomed the extra funding but added: “There’s one plank left to go, which is a date.”
The UK’s defence spending has fallen fairly steadily from a historic high of about 7 per cent of GDP in the mid-1950s. Wallace has secured a series of one-off cash injections since taking over as defence secretary in 2019, but a significant proportion of this has gone towards big projects such as the new submarines to carry the country’s nuclear deterrent, leaving the ministry’s day-to-day budget squeezed.
UK defence chiefs have imposed sweeping cuts across all three armed services © Ministry of Defence/PA
To increase the core defence budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of this decade would require additional spending of £14bn in 2029-30, and an additional £42bn over the five years of the next parliament, according to analysis by the Royal United Services Institute.
Wallace highlighted that of all the services, the army was most in need of urgent investment, declaring it was “15 years behind and needs to modernise”.
He is preparing to unveil a refresh of the 2021 defence command paper, which set out plans to modernise the armed forces, and is preparing for another battle with Hunt over funding.
“The government needs to indicate its priorities?.?.?.?Unless you say to the Treasury at the next spending round defence will get a greater share [of money], the Treasury won’t prepare for that.”
He said he was trying to change a Whitehall culture in which the defence budget has been seen as the “go-to bucket of cash for other things”, or a “quarry” to be mined for money for other government priorities.
But he appeared to reject calls by critics to reverse his decision to cut 9,500 troops from the army, reducing it to 72,500 — its smallest size since the Napoleonic era — arguing new technology will allow fewer personnel to deliver greater effect.
Speaking to the FT earlier this week in Berlin following a meeting with his counterpart Boris Pistorius, Wallace applauded Germany’s plans to set up a €100bn fund to modernise its armed forces. It was “an important message for [people] across Britain that we’re going back to the days where you need to invest in defence,” he said.
Asked about his apparent interest in the post of secretary-general of Nato when incumbent Jens Stoltenberg steps down in October, he was more cryptic: “I think the Nato members are all looking to see who’s going to dance?.?.?.?Let’s see who’s dancing.” Earlier this year, he called it a “great job” in an interview with Times Radio.
On Ukraine, Wallace said Kyiv’s forces were well prepared, equipped and highly motivated ahead of the counter-offensive against Russian forcesthat is expected to begin shortly. However, he warned that western allies should not view the attempt to push the Russians out of occupied territory as “one more heave” that would necessarily lead to the end of the conflict.
Wallace said Britain and other allies were “on guard” for Russian forces resorting to deploying non-conventional weapons in Ukraine if the counter-offensive went well. He said any use of chemical weapons would be “unacceptable and there would be a response”. |
