Wader 2
Lord Halifax might have said that WW2 was a war of choice but you're right - we could have walked away from both Gulf Wars, Kosovo and the Falklands (that last decision would have stopped Mrs T from being re-elected in 1983)
Not sure the great British public have ever been asked whether they want force projection. They certainly wanted it during the Falklands war
We can afford to spend more, perhaps not now. MoD continues to sit on valuable assets that have nothing to do with the defence of the realm
You're right about Europe - with a few honourable exceptions (Poland, Estonia etc) currently they don't seem to have the stomach for force projection
Should we/could we depend on others to protect our SLOC? Do we really believe that only having forces for territorial defence is the best long term approach and what are 'true international forces'? NATO? The UN?