Wensleydale,
Thank you, a very good post and made me sit and think for a while....
But as Mark Twain said, 'History does not repeat itself, it just rhymes'.
I wonder if we ever will learn our lessons?
As to Defence cuts - as I said, if that is what is confronting us and genuinely in the best interests of the nation, then so be it. My (rather long winded) point was that if the inevitable cuts do occur (H M Treasury led, rather than SDR informed), then so must UK Foreign Policy and FCO aspirations.
I am more than content to become a militarised police force to protect UK national interests if we cannot afford to play our (warfighting) role on the world stage I just do not want to be carrying or managing the risk that the MoD is shifting down to me when it still wants to conduct high end warfighting kinetic operations, but doesn't want to pay for it (in the current battlespace or in future battlespace for future threats).