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Hi Orcrev,
'Wouldn’t it be just as likely that preparations are being made just in case? Considering how aggressive Russia has been for the last decade it’s looking increasingly likely that it’s a question of when not if they push things too far and involve a NATO country. It’s certainly not guaranteed of course, but it’s also not unlikely.' - I think you are correct, and regardless of whether the UK will go to war, such preparations would take place. Where we disagree is whether such preparations would be carried out in public. I would say that involving the public in any preparations would suggest that such things are already decided. Involving a traditionally anti-govt. newspaper in this planning would add extra weight that this is the case. It might not be true that the UK is planning for war but involving the public is usually one of the last stages of planning for a war whether it's starting one or anticipating one, for obvious reasons.
'Wouldn’t it be reasonable for the UK, being a NATO member, to be at least somewhat prepared should the worst happen? I don’t think that’s a particularly radical or right wing outlook.' - Again I totally agree that it would be a thing the UK would do, but to do so publicly and also to publicize the fact is in my view an indicator that they (govt.) is set on a particular course of action.
'If you want to get pessimistic about things you could also look the other direction at the US which unfortunately has been flirting with fascism recently. A win for Trump in this year’s election has the potential to go very very badly for not just the US, but the world. We’re talking potentially 1933 Germany levels of bad.' - I'd say that any country that is electing an first doctrine president is anticipating war, because the only theater in which that doctrine is always correct is in war. In peace time, compromise is usually made.
'Considering the UKs past experience having a little something stashed away wouldn’t be the worst idea.'- forgive me, I'm not familiar with what you are referring to here but please tell me.'
'I still think you’re reading way too much into a relatively minor thing though. There are a lot of far less extreme potential explanations. Jumping immediately to government intervention as the explanation is to ignore a lot of simpler explanations. For instance I’d consider it far more likely that someone simply paid them a lot of money to run those stories' - I'd personally consider the Guardian to not be an institution that could be 'bought' unless it was by the state.
'There are plenty of large corporations only too happy to pay for media spin that benefits them. They need to even be a UK based company. Someone like Raytheon who would benefit from increased military spending could certainly consider it worth dropping a few hundred thousand in bribes to key people at the paper in the hopes of swaying the publics opinion.' - Well you might be right but again I don't believe that the editors at the Guardian would compromise their journalistic integrity to do that - especially given their historical opposition to the MIC.