So here we are again. Twenty four Indian sailors plucked from the sea off Oman after a US strike, and I'm supposed to be surprised? The tanker was a target, yes, but the crew were just collateral waiting to happen.
The British maritime security review that follows is a predictable dance: we act as though our own naval decline is some kind of historical accident. It is not. It is the consequence of a post imperial nation that has forgotten what power means.
We now outsource our safety to the Americans, then wring our hands when their operations put lives at risk. The crew are safe, thank heavens. But the real story is not the rescue.
It is the slow, gilded unravelling of British strategic autonomy. We live in an age of decadent caution where every action is debated and every inaction excused. Meanwhile, pirates and militias grow bolder.
The Roman Empire did not fall in a day. nor did it fall to a single barbarian. It fell to a thousand ignored cracks.
This is one of them.
