Seablindness with Dr. James W.E. Smith, on Midrats
the seas are not free by default
Especially for the Royal Navy, it was assumed the military leaders, politicians, and the general population understood that they were island nations and that their security and prosperity depended on a strong navy and civilian maritime commerce.
Even the greatest naval power of the last century, the United States of America seems to be unable to have people understand why it needs a strong navy. What happened?
Focused primarily on the core of the issue with the Royal Navy, our guest for the full hour to discuss the scourge of seablindness will be Dr James WE Smith, the Laughton-Corbett Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.
He completed his PhD in ‘War and Strategic Studies’ that focused on studying the organization of defense and defense unification in the UK and US and how that impacts strategy and strategic thought. This has complemented a broader research effort which has taken nearly fifteen years about the devaluation of sea, navies and maritime strategy in nations and strategic thought from seabed to space.
Links:
You can follow James on X, or his substack.
You can listen here or at the below.
In the Red Sea I believe the idea is to finally give Iran the control of that waterway. At least for now, Europe is weak, Canada is more inclined to allow the sea to be closed and Australia is a long way away in both politics and will.
The US needs to have a come to Jesus moment. Do or not do, there are no half measures.
Seablindness? I'd say it's just lousy government in a nation (the UK), formally run by generally competent Anglo-Saxon bureaucrats. As for the US, I blame leftism, multi-culti, "diversity" and tampon dispensers in the men's room (or head, if you prefer).