Posted on 03/04/2005 3:31:01 PM PST by quidnunc
The long-standing “special relationship” between the United States and Britain, coupled with the close relationship between Tony Blair and George W. Bush, has been at the heart of post-9/11 initiatives, especially the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now that President Bush has won reelection, the political spotlight has turned toward a likely British election this spring. How will that election and its consequences affect the future of the special relationship?
The significant economic, security, historical, and cultural interests that have bound the United States and Britain into a close friendship for more than a century will remain firmly in place. That said, it is important to understand that the political fallout in Britain from the extraordinary coordination between the two nations in recent years (especially during the war in Iraq) is actually weakening the special relationship at this point. This trend is likely to continue during the next few years no matter which British political party wins the coming election.
This pessimistic forecast may come as a shock to many Americans who have come to admire Tony Blair for his steadfast support of American foreign policy since 9/11 and who consider British support in international affairs as nearly automatic. Just as most Americans could not understand how the much-admired Mrs. Thatcher could be ousted by her own Conservative Party colleagues, Americans cannot seem to understand that Blair is in serious political danger. But a closer look is quite revealing.
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(Excerpt) Read more at hooverdigest.org ...
When it comes down to it, England will fall to the franco-german empire without much a whimper.
good.
England's upset because her bastard child now sits at the head of the table? That's enough to make any Thanksgiving uncomfortable, but it's nothing to fret about.
Oh, these things ebb-and-flow, go up and down.
One has to look at the "long-term" trends of history.
History does not begin when one wakes up in the morning.
Relations between the British and the Americans hit rough spots once in a while.....but I have no doubt if the chips are down, the British and Americans will be side-by-side.
I would not interpret a transient, temporary, "hissy fit" as a major shift in either history, or our relations.
Which froggie/german "empire" will be taken down from within by the islamo fascist swine who infest it just now.
Blah, blah. Blair will win in a landslide. The Tories are a waffling joke.
As a Brit I agree with you Britain needs America regardless who is in power eitherside of the pond. We are more politically and historically closer to America than mainland Europe.
Confiscation of all guns. Self defense is illegal. Criminals are victims. islamic immigrant garbage trumps everything else.
Blair's so-called domestic policies, aka socialism-communism-fascism, will be his and the UK's, downfall.
All true
It's the "code of the Old West" here in America, madam.
I do not especially care what one is doing when things are not important; there is always plenty of time, plenty of room, for disagreement.
All I care about is where the other guy is standing, when the chips are down.
This is why, even though I really have no liking for the French, they do not especially bother me, with their opposition towards things such as security or democracy.
The French, the perfidious Gauls--well, what they do 99% of the time bothers me not at all, even if it contradicts worldwide security (and the own best self-interests of the French).....because 99% of the time, the chips are NOT down, and so it is not important.
The chips are not down at present, and so one can safely ignore France.
I know this is definitely a "minority opinion," but I am confident that if, and when, the chips are down, and the west is fighting for its life and its survival, the French will be side-by-side with the west, although of course many steps behind the British and the Americans (and the Norwegians).
Germany, I am not so sure of; but France, yeah, when the chips are down. Not before the chips are down, but at that last moment, when the chips are down.
RE: Are Brits becoming more Crapweaselish?
Well, at least many of the ones who are not Eurosceptics are becoming that way. Of couse, at the same time, guys like Peter Hitchens are becoming even more negatively Crapweaselish (in negative figures since they never were Crapweaselish to begin with). What I wonder is, will it lead to major internal strife in the UK? How much will the average bloke take before going postal?
Yes indeed! We are!
I don't think so. I will be very surprised if the Brits don't vote NO on the EU Constitution. There will always(?) be a strong bond between the US and Britain and Australia.
You didn't mention Crime and the Health Service!
I know that England was the largest offshore investor in America.
They could still be the largest.
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