So the sun finally sets on the British Empire, and what do we get? A pact to build underwater drones with America and Australia. How very 21st century.
One can almost hear the ghost of Lord Nelson laughing from the depths of Trafalgar. We have swapped the wooden walls of England for plastic submarines that no one will ever see, let alone man. This is the AUKUS pact, you will recall, the one that promised nuclear submarines and then quietly downgraded to drone boats.
The trajectory is clear: from dreadnoughts to drones, from empire to… well, a sort of high-tech rowing club. The article says this will 'counter China'. But countering China with a fleet of remote-controlled robots is like fighting a dragon with a water pistol.
You might annoy it, but you won't stop it. And let us not forget the sheer moral decadence of this. War is being automated.
No risk, no glory, no sacrifice. Just a teenager in a bunker in Nevada pressing buttons to sink a Chinese destroyer. What happened to courage?
What happened to the stoic acceptance of one's duty? We have replaced the Victoria Cross with a joypad. This is the intellectual poverty of our age.
We think technology can solve everything, even the decline of the West. It cannot. A drone is not a deterrent.
A submarine with a crew of 130 is. And as for 'leading the revolution'? Please.
Britain cannot even build a proper aircraft carrier without it leaking. We are going to lead a drone revolution? The article is full of the usual pieties: 'cutting edge', 'game changing', 'strengthening alliances'.
It is all so hollow. The only thing this pact reveals is that we have given up on the serious business of defence in favour of a gimmick. We are like a retired colonel who buys a drone to spy on his neighbours.
It is pathetic. And do not get me started on the 'intellectual property' sharing. As if we have any left.
Our once great universities are now just factories for Marxist theory. What will we share? The plans for a drone that can write an essay on intersectionality?
China laughs at us. They are building real ships, real power. We are building toys.
This is the Fall of Rome, but with Wi-Fi. I will be blunt: this pact is a mask for decline. We cannot afford the real thing, so we pretend.
We pretend that drones will save us. They will not. They will just make the decline more efficient.
The Romans had barbarians at the gate. We have robots in the sea. And we think that is progress.
It is not. It is the end.
