You read it here first, but Hal Colebatch writing for the American Spectator has it better and more completely than I managed. Catch his must-read piece here.

Here’s the heart of the matter:

Steve Bush, editor of the magazine Warship World, was reported as saying: “After ten years of Labour government, the Royal Navy is on its knees. Without immediate and proper funding, I cannot see how it can recover.”

Jim: These are the moments I fear the bad guys are going to win this war. We never see the headline, “Al-Qaeda Announces Budget Cuts For Coming Year; Suicide Belts, Hijacking Training to be Hardest Hit.”

The argument gaining strength in most Western countries outside the U.S. right now is political leaders speaking, in the “Wah Power Converters”/Harry Reid tone, “We don’t wanna spend money on defense… Soldiers and sailors and ships are expensive… We want more social welfare spending… We want a 35 hour work week… We want more money spent on us… somebody else can pay for defending us.”