Reply to post: Re: Presumbly the UK has similar plans

Re: Presumbly the UK has similar plans

The question in my mind is do the ministers get an adequate briefing on what's available in case of emergency - and the implications if they try to deploy it?

Probably. One of the most sobering aspects of becoming Prime Minister in the UK must be writing the 'Letter of Last Resort'. So in the event that our nuclear missile boats can't listen to the Archers, they can open up the Letter and see what to do with their <=128 bundles of instant sunshine. It must be a rather sobering experience for any incoming PM to go from victory celebrations to being briefed about their responsibility, and needing to write that Letter ASAP.

I'd love to see an interview with a PM talking about the impact of that responsibility. How the world ends, and your responsibilities in that event. Naturally everything is highly classified, but it'd still be interesting to hear about the emotional impact of having that responsibility.

The rest is normal for government given role-playing and 'what if?' scenarios are standard practice. So in the event of a zombie outbreak, pull out the current plan for dealing with that. And I picked that as an example because despite being highly unlikely, it has been wargamed. As I understand it, those plans often include draft legislation required to execute those plans, if legislation is needed. But then in the event of something really serious, I guess emergency powers/martial law could be used, which would bypass BAU democratic decision making processes.

Biggest challenge I think its still with the decision makers, eg the shower of shite currently in charge of energy policy, or diplomacy. That's an issue at the moment, so as an example-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-61612803

During their phone discussion, the leaders of France and Germany asked Vladimir Putin to hold "direct serious negotiations" with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky's been refusing to negotiate. But then he has his own security guarantees.

The two EU leaders "insisted on an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian troops", the German chancellor's office said.

Errm. Right. So once Russia's withdrawn from Crimea & Donbass, negotiations can begin. Somehow, I can't see Russia agreeing to that given the demand would rather weaken Russia's negotiating position. So why would the EU's 2 most powerful leaders make such an unrealistic demand?