Posted on 05/08/2005 5:40:39 AM PDT by NZerFromHK
Americans are accustomed to thinking of Britain as their most reliable ally, always there in a crisis. Broadly speaking that has been true since 1941 — and mutual. With the exception of a few wobbles like Suez and Edward Heath's refusal of landing rights to U.S. planes supplying arms to Israel in the Yom Kippur war, the Brits have shared a common approach with the U.S. on defense policy, intelligence cooperation, nuclear weapons, trade liberalization, and much else. Margaret Thatcher's backing for Reagan's Libyan raid and Tony Blair's commitment of British forces to the Iraq war strengthened this habitual cooperation. There was even government-to-government agreement for much of the time on the desirability of Britain's joining the European Union to frustrate any tendency the latter might show toward anti-Americanism. By and large this mix of policies worked well.
It is now threatened, however, by three developments: the rise of anti-Americanism in British politics, a growing anti-Americanism in continental Europe, and the EU's moves toward a common foreign policy. It is the first of these that is the main topic of this article.
Traditional anti-Americanism in Britain has been of two kinds: a left-wing political anti-Americanism rooted in anti-capitalism, and a right-wing hostility based on the decline of British power and the resentment at being displaced by the U.S. Neither was politically important; both were easily contained. But a much more dangerous, complicated, and surprising situation developed in the recent election campaign: Tony Blair's handling of the Iraq war midwifed the birth of a powerful anti-Americanism of the center-Left. . .
A dangerous political development in the Mother Country. As a Colonial I know Britain is becoming New Zealand-ized, Canadianized, or even Germanized just as we speak. Rich and bored, the modern Britons strike me as more like typical left-leaning blue state Americans minute by minute. This anti-Americanism is a funny mix of New Left, Old Right, and postmodern soft-headedness philosophies, and as O'Sullivan had explained, is much more mainstream and widespread than any previous anti-Americanism in British political landscape.
Will the United Kingdom go down the path as Germany Mk II in terms of the big issues like Europe, War on Terror, foreign and defence policies, and relations with the United States? Will we see the end of the Britain as a great nation, marked by brilliant statesmen such as Benjamin Disraeli, William Gladstone, Sir Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher?
Ping!
WE will certainly see here in the next ten years.....
I kind of doubt the British people will vote for the EU constitution. Not only is that a shot against the US, but it is a shot against the British, who has really dominated Western Europe for something like 9 centuries....
Britain ping!
The National Review needs to ponder carefully on this fact - 70% of the electorate voted for parties in favour of the Iraq War. YouGov polls indicated it was not the biggest issue on the doorstep.
The reason why Labour lost so many seats is the whiff of rot. Keep in mind, they've been in office for 8 years.
There is no obvious anti-American trends in British politics - the only anti-Bush statements came from the Liberal Democrats.
I realise journalism often gets mileage out of inventing hobgoblins, but this is not particularly a good one.
Regards, Ivan
I certainly hope so, but the way I things are going, it seems even large parts of Britain that were previously Eurosceptic have become while EU-phile. It was unimaginable even during the Thatcher years. I think even if they reject the EU treaty they would just become a second Norway (anti-EU and anti-US at the same time) with perhaps a larger military.
I fear a sad epilogue to a historically significant and great nation is being written. A nation that gave birth physically to five countries (the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), and spiritually to over 40 others (from India to Singapore to Fiji). It is not an acceptable development.
I dont know...
all the Brit servicemen and women I worked with in Iraq were highly motivated and, while they didnt really like being there, they saw the reason and generally agreed with it...
But it is written by none other than John O'Sullivan. He is from your country, and he is an insider in Margaret Thatcher's circles. This is not an armchair pundit who had never even stepped a foot on British soils banging out notes in Mississippi. His alarm bells need to be addressed seriously.
Maybe because the British are on an island gives them a little clearer vision than the rest of Europe.
I keep thinking that we might one day need to return the favor for Britian. The Islamofascists are rising in Europe - watching what is happening in Holland is an eyeopener.
I hope I am wrong, but I still think few people are taking the threat of militant Islam seriously enough. These people have a goal, and it is genocidal world domination, in the name of vicious god of their own invention.
All the British military personnel have been models of courage and professionalism since time memorial. The same could be said of other Commonwealth armed forces like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, etc. It is their politicians who have been so spineless like jellyfish-like. It seems to me we got more stability freaks than far-sighted statesmen in modern Britain.
BTW, I noticed your profile. Are you a US military personnel? Just curious (I have never had any close encounters with military people apart from second hand accounts from my father about my late grandpa, a former Nationalist China general, and some classmates at university, who were Royal New Zealand Air Force cadets).
from something I heard on Fox, I would have to ask how much of the anti-Americanism is from immigration? That seemed to be considered to be the main problem in this past election. (I hope W gets the picture, and does something here.)
OK, OK, I know you're not an American Republican, but the question was to everyoene here (NZ Conservatives too :-))).
In my previous post, I mentioned immigration. Fox did not say what group was causing the problem, but am I correct in believing it is Muslim?
I was a few years ago.
I was over in Iraq as a contractor. I did get to work with some Aussies while I was there. Those guys are great :)
Crazy bastards too :)
I'm not an American - just a naturalized New Zealand citizen born in Hong Kong and ethnically Chinese. To be frank I have no particular favourite in this election. Tony Blair is uniformly bad except the big issue of War on Terrorism and partially on the economy. The major Tories are not reliably conservative on social conservative issues, EU constitution, regulations and the economy, and even on defence and foreign policy they are starting to become quite opportunitist - trying to score points by posing sometimes as old-fashioned anti-US "British Way" right-wingers.
If there had been a more solidly backing-the-US, conservative on all fronts Tory, a kind of second Margaret Thatcher, I would support him/her. Many people don't realize putting Thatcher on today's political landscape and she will be to the right of George W. Bush even on foreign policies and War on Terror. But in today's British political climate such a leader would be laughed off as a loony Genghis Khan-like right-winger. There is no hope for the Mother Country for the time being.
Love your tag - Mort was praising Sam's while bashing WalMart on pay and benefits to employees yesterday on the Beltway Boys - Fred reminded him that they are part of the same company.
Thanks, backhoe. You always have the right connections.
thank you, Frater - people here on freep know how our media twists perception of the US to the rest of the world - the above reminds us that the leftist propaganda skells do not confine their lies and perception-molding efforts to the US alone.
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