Category Archives: Britain

Britain, Defence, Government

Colonel facing dismissal after failing drugs test

DRUGS MISUSE

A LIEUTENANT colonel is facing dismissal after becoming the most senior British Army officer known to have failed a drugs test.

The disgraced officer, who is paid round £80,000 a year, was caught at a British military base in Cyprus.

The vast majority of troops who fail Compulsory Drugs Tests (CDTs) are young private soldiers, lance corporals and corporals.

Most commonly these inexperienced junior rank soldiers are caught having been persuaded to take cocaine or a cocktail of banned substances on a night out.

If officers suspect they have taken illegal drugs, tests are arranged as quickly as possible, reducing their chance to flush the narcotics out of their system by drinking water.

For any officer to be caught taking an illicit substance is rare but it is unheard of for a lieutenant colonel who has served in the Armed Forces for decades to fail a drugs test.

The senior officer is now fighting to save his career. The recent test is said to have proved he was taking an illegal steroid with a Class C categorisation under the UK’s Misuse of Drugs Act.

He is apparently claiming that he requires the drug as a painkiller. But, according to defence sources, the drug had not been approved by a registered British medical doctor and he is understood not to have declared he was taking it before the test.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed that administrative action was being taken against the lieutenant colonel, who is contesting the most likely sanction against him – dismissed with disgrace and loss of pension.

Soldiers who fail CDTs may be granted waivers but only if they are particularly young or inexperienced, or there are significant mitigating circumstances and commanders are convinced they made a one-off mis-judgment that will not be repeated.

While in recent years waiver protocols have been massaged to reprieve soldiers who the Army is eager to keep – for example, when they possess certain skills and experience that are in short supply – it is considered highly unlikely that any exception would be made for a soldier holding the rank of lieutenant colonel.

A serving soldier said: ‘Junior ranks have been kicked out for taking Class C substances so officers should be too. Really committed soldiers were booted out for taking performance-enhancing “gym drugs” in recent years. They should have been retained.’

The soldier added: ‘An officer with his rank and experience should definitely have known better. It can’t be one rule for him and another for everyone else.’

The Ministry of Defence said: ‘Administrative action for this case is ongoing and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

‘The Army does not tolerate drugs misuse by service personnel. Those found to have fallen short of the Army’s high standards face being discharged from service.’

Earlier this year, it emerged that ten elite soldiers are facing dismissal from the Army’s new £120million high-tech unit, the Experimentation Battlegroup, after being caught taking cocaine in Cyprus. They failed drugs tests at their base.

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Britain, Government, Society

Britain’s betrayal in Afghanistan

TROOP WITHDRAWAL

WITH hubris and complacency, former British prime minister Tony Blair dragged Britain to war in Afghanistan with three overarching objectives: to crush the Taliban, eliminate the opium trade and promote democracy.

To the people of that benighted nation, he also made a solemn pledge: “We will not walk away.”

As a symbolic ceremony marked our final withdrawal after 20 bloody years, those words should make him and the entire political class cringe with shame.

For all the heroism of our at times woefully equipped troops, the mission – just as it was in Iraq – was an unmitigated disaster.

More than 450 British soldiers lost their lives, with thousands more maimed or broken mentally.

And for what? As Coalition forces have pulled out early, the Taliban is resurgent. Opium production flourishes, and rather than reducing the terror threat, our intervention has increased the danger.

As for not walking away from the Afghans, words cannot express the dismay and futility of the situation left in the wake of our withdrawal: thousands who risked their lives serving our troops, including interpreters, are terrified of being left to the mercy of the vengeful Islamists. These men and their families need and deserve asylum in the UK.

The British Government promised not to abandon them. Cutting them adrift would be another unforgivable betrayal.

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Britain, Government, Politics, Society, United States

The New Atlantic Charter

US-UK ALLIANCE

EARLIER this month, Britain and the United States agreed a new “Atlantic Charter”, committing both countries to building a renewed alliance to meet the challenges posed by China, Russia, and climate change.

In what was seen as a highly symbolic act, the Prime Minister and the US President revived the original charter signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, which is credited with laying the foundations for the post-war settlement.

President Biden said the world was at “an inflection point in history”, adding: “A moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies will not just endure – they will excel as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of this new age.”

He said the charter would address the “key challenges of this century – cybersecurity, emerging technologies, global health and climate change”.

Following the symposium between the two leaders, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t think it is any exaggeration to say that the relationship between the UK and the US is – the relationship between North America and Europe – incarnated in that Atlantic Charter of 1941, which we’ve renewed, is of massive strategic importance for the prosperity, the security of the world, for all the things we believe in together – democracy, human rights, the rule of law – the US and the UK stick up for those things together. It’s incredibly important that we should affirm that.”

The eight-point charter commits the two nations to pursuing broad aims to defend and promote democracy around the world, while combating challenges such as climate change and the pandemic.

It was accompanied by a lengthy joint statement in which the two leaders pledged a range of actions to push back against the growing power of the world’s authoritarian regimes, including “practical efforts to support open societies and democracy across the globe.”

On defence, the two powers agreed to not only step up conventional military co-operation, but also on cybersecurity, an area where Russia and China are seen as major threats.

The agreement says the two countries should work together to tackle a range of new threats, including those associated with “cyberspace, foreign interference, harmful influence, illicit finance, violent conflict and extremism, and terrorism in all its forms”.

Mr Biden paid tribute to the UK’s military role in joint operations around the world over decades. Commenting on the two countries’ withdrawal from the 20-year war in Afghanistan, the President said: “The UK was with us from the start – they always are.”

The agreement also binds both nations to striking a “technology partnership”, including efforts to build up stronger capabilities in areas currently dominated by China, such as batteries.

Trade talks have taken a back seat since the departure of Donald Trump from the White House six months ago.

But No10 has said the two leaders had agreed to work towards a free trade deal “which would create jobs and bring new opportunities to both of our countries”.

The joint statement also commits both sides to strengthening trade ties, including settling a long running dispute over aerospace subsidies, which has led to tit-for-tat tariffs.

The new charter warned that climate change had reached a “critical point” and committed both countries to decarbonising their economies and helping others around the world do the same.

The declaration also included a lengthy section on tackling the Covid crisis and creating a “Global Pandemic Radar” early-warning system. The agreement will see increased co-operation on accelerating scientific research into vaccines capable of fighting dangerous variants.

The PM hopes to secure agreement among other leading nations to donate one billion doses to poorer countries in the hope of “vaccinating the world” by the end of next year.

The two men also agreed to create a “travel taskforce” aimed at restoring UK-US travel “as soon as possible”. Government sources said the unit, led in Britain by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, would “help accelerate” the resumption of flights between two of the world’s best-connected countries.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Hope For The Future, the title of the document released in updating the original 1941 Atlantic Charter, contains the following eight provisos:

. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to defend the institutions of open societies, including upholding the rule of law and an independent media.

. They will strengthen international bodies to tackle threats such as “the peril of emerging technologies” and to encourage trade.

. In an apparent rebuke to Russia, the US and UK declared nations must have a right to self-governance and should resolve disputes peacefully. They also stated their opposition to interference in elections.

. Technology will be used to improve security and deliver jobs, while investment will aid research into the biggest challenges facing the world.

. The importance of the NATO alliance in a nuclear world was highlighted. The two nations said they remained committed to countering terrorists and cyber threats.

. The leaders said they wanted the global economy to be “inclusive, fair, climate-friendly and sustainable”. They will fight corruption and seek high labour standards.

. On the climate, they warned the world has reached a “critical point” where urgent and ambitious action is needed.

. They recognised the “catastrophic impact of health crises” following Covid and the need for strong collective defences.

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