Secret wars and grey zones: defence minister explains UK’s military future

UK Defence secretary Ben Wallace has been touring the US to explain Britain’s military plans. He hinted that UK troops will fight secret wars and engage in new types of warfare. He also said the UK military was ready to deal with the effects of climate change, population growth, and migration. This will be the future of UK military strategy.

By Joe Glenton
Published on The Canary,
July 16, 2021
Elite Forces UK/PO (Phot) Wheelie A’Barrow

Defence secretary Ben Wallace has been touring the US to explain Britain’s military plans. He hinted that UK troops will fight secret wars and engage in new types of warfare. He also said the UK military was ready to deal with the effects of climate change, population growth, and migration. This will be the future of UK military strategy.

Wallace told his audience he hadn’t to been the US for 18 months. But he made it clear that the UK is still eager to be close to American power.

His keynote speech was at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, a top neo-conservative thinktank. The ExxonMobil-backed thinktank has links to climate change denial and 2003 Iraq War figures like Paul Wolfowitz, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney.

He told those gathered he agreed with another former AEI member, US president Gerald Ford, that only strength could deliver peace:

“President Ford saw his fair share of turbulence too and his approach was to always return to first principles of shared values. Setting out his National Security policy forty-five years ago, he summed it up in three words: “peace through strength”.

Read also:
Indigenous Communities in Mexico Take up Arms to Defend the Monarch Forest

Published at newcoldwar.org