Joint Expeditionary Force

It's, there's nothing one to worry about it.

We've acknowledged the arrangement with the RAF, and there's an entity called the Joint Expeditionary Force, which is combined of the Nordic and Baltic nations, UK, and I think the Netherlands, and it's a, uh, there's an element of it that's like a maritime neighborhood watch, and we're going to engage with that.

We're doing that on our own terms, and unless people are living now in another planet, not to acknowledge that that's beneficial and to be supportive of it.

I think the government need to do more public information to take the sting out of any of the fear factor there.

A clear recognition that the UK was the European leader in that part of the world.

The UK also leads the joint expeditionary force in that part of the world.

So it plays a very, very central role, in other words, in European security.

And indeed, through the AUKUS submarine alliance with the United States and the Australians, also an important role more globally, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

However, in general terms, there's a point that I make in the book, and I think many people don't really realize, is the more the United States retreats from Europe, the more important the United Kingdom becomes.

It's simple balance of power logic.

And indeed, we see this in the huge validation now being given to the Joint Expeditionary Force.

for a long time ignored by the European Union, more recently now praised because it's really the one outfit within NATO which does not involve the Americans and is led by the UK.

It's going to be here for the next few months during the presidency.

MacArthur, your party is getting very exercised about Ireland's potential involvement with the Joint Expeditionary Force Plus, which seems like a pretty benign organisation, which I think we're only going to have observer status, but it looks to be about protecting waters, limiting Russia's ability to operate freely, patrols, monitoring.

What could be wrong with that?

Well, first of all, we're very exercised by Irish neutrality.

[laughs]

... um, you know, uh, NORDEFCO, the Nordic Defence, uh, Cooperation, the JEF, the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force.

But the reality is that the majority of Europe's fighting force is concentrated in what is known as the E3-

Mm

Uh, and in that situation, they asked for and were given unilateral security guarantees by the UK, which is a sure sign that they really rate it, as we would say nowadays, the UK as a military power.

The UK is the commander or the leader of the joint expeditionary force in the Baltic and the High North, so is, is a, a leading force, uh, in that regard.

And is in general regarded also as a s- strong force in terms of, of soft power, cultural reach, English language, the BBC, of course, [chuckles] uh, the monarchy, many other things that, that give Britain a kind of reputation in the world.

And then lastly, when we come to resilience, there are many problems in the UK undoubtedly, but it does have, over hundreds of years, an unbroken tradition of us being a single state, of being a union state, which, you know, if you were to compare it, for example, with France, with Germany, with Russia in particular, even with, uh, China, uh, that's absolutely not the case.

So Zelensky's first visit to Europe in person, um, when he was able to leave the country, he went first to London, then to Brussels.

That was very significant.

And of course, for the reasons that I outlined earlier, powers, states in, in the Baltic and the High North looked to the UK as their natural leader within Europe after February '22, and indeed had done so beforehand, for example, through the Joint Expeditionary Force.

And insofar as they are unhappy with the UK, as they are to a certain extent, is that they're feeling that the UK should be doing more.

Uh, and in that situation, they asked for and were given unilateral security guarantees by the UK, which is a sure sign that they really rate it, as we would say nowadays, the UK as a military power.

The UK is the commander or the leader of the Joint Expeditionary Force in the Baltic and the High North, so is, is a, a leading force, uh, in that regard, and is in general regarded also as a s- strong force in terms of, of soft power, cultural reach, English language, the BBC, of course [laughs], uh, the monarchy, many other things that, that give Britain a kind of reputation in the world.

And then lastly, when we come to resilience, there are many problems in the UK undoubtedly, but it does have over hundreds of years an unbroken tradition of us being a single state, of being a union state, which, you know, if you were to compare it, for example, with France, with Germany, with Russia in particular, even with, uh, China, uh, that's absolutely not the case.

So for all those four reasons, I classify the UK as a great power.

So Zelensky's first visit to Europe in person, um, when he was able to leave the country, he went first to London, then to Brussels.

That was very significant.

And of course, the reasons that I outlined earlier, powers, states in, in the Baltic and the High North looked to the UK as their natural leader within Europe after February '22, and indeed had done so beforehand, for example, through the Joint Expeditionary Force.

And insofar as they are unhappy with the UK, as they are to a certain extent, is that they're feeling that the UK should be doing more.

European NATO is, is falling into a sort of a northern and a southern NATO, and that's where our future lies in a sort of a, a new version, a sort of northern core of this thirty-two nation NATO.

I think the thirty-two nation NATO will become pretty moribund, but what actually will be the vital bit of it are the ten nations of the, the JEF, the Joint Expeditionary Force, which Britain set up and Britain leads.

So you've got the Scandinavian countries, the Baltic states, uh, the Netherlands, uh, Denmark, Iceland, Britain.

So you've got ten states there.

He would command all units involved in Forager.

Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, who had commanded naval forces for the landings at Guadalcanal and Tarawa, headed the Joint Expeditionary Force, Task Force 51.

Turner would also command the Northern Attack Force for the invasion of Saipan and Tinian.

Admiral Connolly, who had commanded the invasion forces at Roi and Namur in the Marshalls, would head the Southern Attack Force, Task Force 53, assigned to Guam.