Phantom Pains.

Thanks to Colonel Lang's diligence my attention was directed toward Syria--I am not going to comment on Armenia-Azerbaijan conflagration until I have a reliable data--and the role UK plays in trying to influence this conflict. Colonel's comments are on target when he states that:

Using really basic intelligence analytic tools; Occam's Razor, Walks like a duck, Smileyesque back azimuth's, etc. it has been clear that the UK government has been deeply involved in sponsoring and influencing the Syrian/ jihadi opposition in that miserable country.  The wide spread British Old Boys network of aspirants to the tradition of imperial manipulation has been visible just below the surface if you had eyes to look and a brain to think. A lot of the money for this folly came right out of USAID.

In fact, British "fingerprints" were all over the place since the git go in Syria and as the Greyzone reports, based on allegedly leaked UK government's 2014 document:

In other words, the UK Foreign Office and military crafted plans to wage a comprehensive media war on Syria. To establish an infrastructure capable of managing the propaganda blitz, Britain paid a series of government contractors, including ARK, The Global Strategy Network (TGSN), Innovative Communication & Strategies (InCoStrat), and Albany. The work of these firms overlapped, and some collaborated in their projects to cultivate the Syrian opposition.

There are absolutely no news in the fact that Al Jazeera, as one example among many, is a propaganda front for Qatar (accidentally, a big friend and enabler of ISIS, Daesh etc.)  and intelligence organizations with a "specific" agenda in the region, nor is it really news that good ol' boys, as Colonel calls them, from all kinds of primarily UK and US funny outlets find all kinds of applications to their "intelligence" skills in fomenting troubles--obviously all for the greater good of democracy and human rights--even up to training and equipping moderate terrorists, humanitarian jihadists and all other kinds of people who love to cut heads, disembowel people, rape women and in general maintain a highest standard of democratic values. 

America's involvement into  this bloody mess in the Middle East is understandable--it is wrong, often criminal, but it is understandable. Superpower's rah-rah, "best friend" Israel and shit of this nature, but UK in this whole thing is a comical entity, trying to address its phantom pains of Great Empire of the past so desperately that it is comical. Make no mistake, London City, banks, all this glory of the sun never setting on the empire, in the end--English Premiere League--try to counter this. The best, undeniably, league in the world, way better than La Liga or Bundesliga, and there is no denial of that. London still retains its Victorian grandeur in some places, where they are still able to maintain at least some acceptable norms of public safety and sanitation, but writing is on the wall. No matter how legendary and beloved Manchester United, or Liverpool, or Chelsea are for many around the globe, UK is a basket case economically, culturally and militarily. 

London may have some money, for now, it has no real international subjectivity and is in a perpetual search for this dopamine-laced feeling of self-importance and if it is by pretending that UK matters by means of support for all kinds of human trash, I am sure heirs to James Bond's glory will do it maintaining their stiff upper lip. I don't know if they know at the 10 Downing Street that they are pathetic, but the reality of UK is simply sad--it becomes fast a totalitarian state which is drowning in political correctness, UK's economy is in tatters (wink, wink, if you know what I mean):

London (CNN Business)UK economic output shrank by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020, the worst quarterly slump on record, pushing the country into the deepest recession of any major global economy. This crash in GDP in the April-June period, compared with the first quarter, is the worst since quarterly records began in 1955. Industries most exposed to government lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic — services, production and construction — saw record drops. 

If one discards some famous UK manufacturing brands such as still relevant Rolls-Royce or some other aerospace elements tied into BAE Systems, there is very little, frankly, to talk about what UK produces anymore and what has any global trade impact by being competitive. The times of British glorious and highly relevant and viable national aerospace industry are gone forever, UK cannot anymore out of own resources and talent produce world-class combat jet, nor can she do it for a commercial aircraft, being fully integrated into Airbus "family" owning 20% stake with other 80% belonging to EADS. What else, what else... Ah, British Armed Forces are a joke. Today British Army numbers a whopping 79,000 of regular personnel and is getting ready to abandon tanks as a viable combined arms element altogether. Once glorious and legendary Royal Navy has enough ships and subs to demonstrate flag and, maybe, win another Falkland campaign against grossly inferior power, granted its two aircraft carriers will be able to deploy enough F-35Bs to the theater, but that is about it. In other words, UK is a military and economic backwater and I say this with a degree of sorrow. I, as many of my peers, grew up with great British literature, indeed, unique and massive British contribution in science, culture and other fields of human activity. Come on, we grew up with Beatles, Deep Purple and some quirky, and wonderful, British movies. In the end, Great Britain was our second most important ally in WW II. That Britain is no more. 

UK's trade balance is a negative 130 billion Pounds, the most popular boy's name in London is Mohamed, and in general things look so...promising for this once prosperous Kingdom that desperation is in the air. So, what's left? Right, try to play games adults play, get into chihuahua mode and get into the middle of the fight of mastiffs. How? Easy, you just read about it--make a stink that everyone notices you, that you are relevant, that you still can influence the events in the world and this may make a phantom pain of a gone greatness less acute. As for hundreds of thousands killed and millions displaced--no price is too high, because it is for the bloody greater good.