Don't delude yourself: Britain has not "punched above its weight" for decades and will continue in this vein

 The British prime minister has promised peace keeping forces to guard Ukraine if there is a peace settlement. This morning, on the news broadcasts, UK military and foreign affairs  experts explained that the UK could hardly muster up 5,000 troops and equip them properly; that is just about the strength of a brigade. The UK could not even supply a well equipped division of peace keeping forces.  It would probably take an army corp of 10 divisions or more to assist Ukrainian forces  in keeping the peace and the Russian army at bay. Britain has nowhere near the ground, air and naval forces to challenge Russia.  Even a whole European effort would require the support of the US. If there is a military confrontation Britain would not have enough forces to prosecute a long term war and British armed personnel would have their lives put at risk. Our military personnel did not volunteer for this, and why should we expect them to die for a lost cause. Britain and Europe are not strong enough to resist a much stronger enemy.

Britain could not stand alone against a substantial military power; an army of the strength of Israel could easily defeat ill equipped UK forces. Let's not delude ourselves, the only way we could "punch above our weight" would be in co-operation with other European forces as we cannot rely upon the US any longer.

British politicians of all colours have chosen to confuse the UK public in asserting  that somehow Britain is a first class military and economic power. We have chosen to withdraw from the EU and weaken it, but the EU was key to assuring our independence as a sovereign country. We are a nation that has allowed misplaced national pride to jeopardise our future, surely we should wise up and forget the delusions of the past and re-unite with our friends. I fear that this hope is in vain.