LONDON // Britain's armed forces will be slashed to their lowest levels in living memory tomorrow when the coalition government announces its defence spending review.
The Royal Air Force and Royal Navy look set to bear the brunt of the cuts, but the army's fighting strength will also be trimmed back by a cash-strapped government bent on reducing defence spending by about eight per cent.
Alarm bells have been sounded in Washington over the effect the cuts will have on the military ability of the US's most dependable ally.
Today there are also reports from a powerful parliamentary committee and a respectable think tank, warning that the government's short-term financial worries might be hampering its ability to plan properly for the United Kingdom's long term strategic role in the world.
However, the cuts being announced in the House of Commons tomorrow by the defence secretary Liam Fox would have been considerably deeper had the chancellor George Osborne and his officials at the Treasury got their way.
They were looking for cuts of at least 10 per cent in the military budget, and negotiations between them and the ministry of defence had reached a stalemate until the prime minister David Cameron intervened last week and pared down the Treasury's demands.
That intervention followed one by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, who publicly voiced her concerns about the impending cuts in UK defence spending - an unusual move in diplomatic circles where friendly nations rarely openly criticise each others' spending plans, particularly over military matters.
Ms Clinton admitted that Washington was "worried" over the scale of the UK cuts, saying that it was essential to maintain the strength of Nato, which she described as the most successful military alliance "in the history of the world".
America's fear is that if Britain - one of its few Nato partners to honour a commitment to spend two per cent or more of GDP on defence - starts reducing, less reliable alliance members will take it as a signal that they can do even less.
Although tomorrow's spending review will not directly affect operations in Afghanistan, whose extra costs are met from a special contingency fund, it will inevitably affect the UK's ability to act globally, even if only as America's sidekick.
Today, Sir Peter Ricketts, the government's national security adviser, will publish the national security review, which is expected to identify terrorism and cyber attacks as the two biggest threats facing the UK.
However, a report from the House of Commons all-party Public Administration Select Committee, also being published today, warns that the country's national interest is being threatened by a lack of strategic thinking at the heart of government.
The report by the parliamentary committee identifies a tendency for the government to "muddle through" and says both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars illustrated the lack of an over-arching strategy.
It says that the UK's capacity to think strategically has been undermined by long standing assumptions that national interests are best served by the special relationship with the US and economic links within the European Union.
"Uncritical acceptance of these assumptions has led to a waning of our interests in, and ability to make, national strategy," says the report.
"Recent events such as 9/11, climate change and the banking crisis are making us think differently about the world, but require us to find the means by which we can anticipate and understand these challenges and devise an appropriate response to them."
Bernard Jenkin, the member of parliament chairing the committee, said: "Ministers are in danger of announcing a Strategic and Security Defence Review that is anything but strategic. Whitehall has fallen out of the habit of strategic thinking. Different departments think about strategy in different ways, often at cross-purposes.
"While the foreign secretary has said he 'rejects strategic shrinkage', all the evidence suggests that Whitehall lacks the capacity to make strategic sense of defence policy, while reducing spending on diplomacy and defence.
"To secure the safety and prosperity of the UK, it is critical that the government re-learn the lost art of national strategy."
Similar concerns are voiced in a report today from Chatham House, home of the think tank, the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
The author of the report, Paul Cornish, says that the coalition has had only six months to produce the strategic review on which tomorrow's defence cuts will be based.
"With such a brisk timetable, there has been limited time for strategic reflection and ideas," he says. "The risk is the outcome could therefore be a review which is driven neither by strategic ideas nor by financial decisions.
"Reviews of UK security and defence strategy usually fail, either because the mismatch between strategy and budget becomes too great, or because of a failure to identify and anticipate security and defence challenges as they evolve.
"It is unlikely that the 2010 strategy review will be so successful as to entirely disprove this prediction."
dsapsted@thenational.ae
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
More from our neighbourhood series:
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Andor
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Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
TALE OF THE TAPE
Manny Pacquiao
Record: 59-6-2 (38 KOs)
Age: 38
Weight: 146lbs
Height: 166cm
Reach: 170cm
Jeff Horn
Record: 16-0-1 (11 KOs)
Age: 29
Weight: 146.2lbs
Height: 175cm
Reach: 173cm
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
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As it stands in Pool A
1. Japan - Played 3, Won 3, Points 14
2. Ireland - Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1, Points 11
3. Scotland - Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1, Points 5
Remaining fixtures
Scotland v Russia – Wednesday, 11.15am
Ireland v Samoa – Saturday, 2.45pm
Japan v Scotland – Sunday, 2.45pm
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Kandahar%20
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Tonight's Chat on The National
Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
Tonight’s Chat host Ricardo Karam is a renowned author and broadcaster who has previously interviewed Bill Gates, Carlos Ghosn, Andre Agassi and the late Zaha Hadid, among others.
Intellectually curious and thought-provoking, Tonight’s Chat moves the conversation forward.
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
