Britain's Defense Cuts: A Grim Portent for the U.S. Military? -- Time MagazineEven before the British Defense Ministry this week elected to scrap the Royal Navy's only fixed-wing aircraft carrier, nobody imagined that Britannia still ruled the waves — or had any of the power that characterized its empire before the two world wars of the last century. Still, as recently as a decade ago, Britain could take solace in its "special relationship" with the sole surviving superpower, earning pride of place among U.S. allies with its readiness to commit substantial numbers of troops to Washington's expeditionary military ventures. Sure, the 46,000 troops the British sent to Iraq for the U.S.-led invasion equalled around one-third of the American force, but the U.S. military was almost 10 times larger than Britain's. In Afghanistan, also, the U.K. committed a force equivalent to one third of the U.S. deployment. Still, in both cases, Britain's contribution dwarfed that of other NATO allies.
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More News On UK Defense Budget Cuts
Pentagon says military cuts won't sideline Britain -- Reuters
Big British defense cuts weaken Pentagon's top military partner -- Christian Science Monitor
Foreign Policy: Goodbye To Britain's Defense Budget -- NPR
Why the U.S. needs to be more like Britain -- Shadow Government/Foreign Policy
Hillary Clinton is Right to Warn the UK Over Defense Cuts -- Huffington Post opinion
A Leaner, Meaner British Military -- Foreign Policy opinion
Defence cuts don't go deep enough -- Guardian opinion