Ententes Cordiales may come and go, but for the better part of seven decades the US and the UK have enjoyed the mutual benefits of a “Special Relationship” that far exceeded those between major powers historically. The Special Relationship under-girded the Atlantic Alliance, and enabled each party to count upon the other for “cooperation in economic activity, trade and commerce, military planning, execution of military operations, nuclear weapons technology and intelligence sharing.”
The Special Relationship took a hit during 2003, when Britons protested in record numbers against Tony Blair’s decision to throw his lot in with George W. Bush for Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was either a courageous or foolish decision, dependent upon your point of view, for Blair was also pronouncedly “pro-EU” in country where Euro-skepticism ran high (although the UK wisely negotiated opt-out provisions for its membership in the Eurozone).
In November 2001, Bush proclaimed that the US had “no better friend” than the mother country, and in scrapes and scraps around the globe, that had often seemed true. Apart perhaps from the Ozzies of course, who make up for their relative paucity in numbers with an apparent willingness to brawl with the best of them, given a half-way plausible reason.
The UK have fallen on hard times lately, as have the rest of us. British Prime Minister David Cameron has made no bones about the need to wrestle spending under control, leaving the NHS of course unmolested. A country which once “ruled the waves” is building two aircraft carriers to replace those just retired, one of which will immediately be laid up in ordinary upon completion, while the other will have no fixed wing aircraft to operate from for a decade, if that. With the retirement of the Nimrod ISR aircraft, British ships enforcing whatever-it-is we’re doing in Libya are forced to rely upon US aircraft.
And then there’s this:
The Daily Telegraph last week revealed that David Cameron has ordered British commanders to draw up plans to start pulling hundreds of British troops out of Afghanistan within weeks.
The Prime Minister is expected to discuss a co-ordinated Afghan withdrawal in London next week.
The prospect of an imminent British withdrawal is understood to have alarmed American generals, who are trying to resist political pressure for a major reduction in US troop numbers.
Well-placed sources said that US generals have delivered a blunt warning to their British counterparts about the impact of an early UK withdrawal.
We’ve rather got it coming to us: The president bowed to Saudi royals while the first lady gave the queen a hug. President Obama sent a White House bust of Winston Churchill home, and repaid Gordon Brown’s gift of “an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet” with 25 American movie CDs incompatible with the UK’s CD players. The queen herself got a better deal, an iPod containing – among other things – a pair of Obama speeches.
An iPod, at least, can be re-gifted.
The Department of State pitched in as well: “There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”
Sauve qui peut.
Although our current elected “leaders’ may fail to accept, acknowledge or encourage the “special relationship” between the U.S. and the UK, many Americans, especially those with military service are less forgetful and ignorant about our shared history and culture and values.
I look forward to the day in the near future when we may once again share that “special relationship” and celebrate it in public at the highest levels.
And, yes, it would be an honor to once again have that bust of Sir Winston in the White House to remind us of what we did together, and why it was important.
As far as the Anglophobes in the State Department or administration, please move to a country more compatible with your beliefs- such as Venezuela or Iran.
I do so hate our appointed aristocracy. They claim to be elected, but I haven’t yet found a sufficient number around here who will admit to having voted for them to justify believing the election was anything but bought and paid for. Chicago and all that, you know?
But so many boors and pretentious poseurs. I’d have to agree that it would be better to be governed by the first 300 people in any randomly-picked telephone book, then the Ivy-League tools we’ve been saddled with this past century.
YMMV, of course.
JV squad’s on the field.
Your being much too kind…
John … I echo your wish that we may once again share that “special relationship” with Britain and celebrate it in public at the highest levels. The present motley crew which populates the White House and its various departments obviously has no real knowledge of what our two countries have shared over the past 200 years or so. Maybe if we regain enough of our lost “politesse” and good manners, the Brits will return the bust of their great statesman Winston Churchill to the White house where it belongs, to once again remind us of how we fought side by side to rescue the civilized world from the Nazis. And won, by God. And won.
Marianne
The Brits (RAF) are training right now at Offutt AFB to, I presume, own and operate their own version or the RC-135. Since what goes on in the recon world is not common knowledge I assume their RCs will have some ASW capability. But I don’t know.
Being bought as a one-for-one replacement for the R1 Nimrods in the ELINT/SIGINT role. There won’t be any major national ‘tweaking’, to make up for the lost ASW capability, as they are being procured under an innovative joint fleet maintenance support/upgrade programme that will see both countries maintain a more or less common baseline and share technology refreshes, out until 2025.
Unlikely
Funny, I just finished a two hour informal chat with two UK aviators that are aboard BUSH to learn CTOL CV OPS. Great guys (former Harrier drivers), but your post very accurately describes the trepidation that I was left with after talking to them. For instance: their new carrier will have only two EMALS(catapults) and both of them foul the landing area. Not good.
In a previous life I traveled to the UK monthly. Their attitude towards us was that we were acting like “churlish children”. PeeBO has done nothing to dissuade them of that opinion.
BHO is going to need smaller shoes. By 2012 he will have shot off all of his toes.
I could see why the Chief Executive may not care for the Sceptred Isle. It’s chief contribution to the world has been the realizable ideal of a government constrained by law.
No wonder Brits have red cheeks; that’s quite the collection of slaps you’ve assembled.
“constrained by law”
Doc, Obama, Holder, et al, fully understand, I am reasonably certain, the middle two-letter word, but both the first and the last occupy-I AM ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN–complete terra incognita insofar as they are concerned..
I dunno Virgil, I think the ‘by’ you are thinking about is ‘buy’, as in ‘buy more votes’….
I can hardly type, I’m so fed up with this BS. Our freaking jug-eared SOB-in-Chief is “too tired” to receive the PM of our most steadfast ally…..but NOT too freaking tired to run all about the country campaigning for his election run. This ignorant, self-important Chicago goon is destroying the very fabric which makes our Country great. And worse, HE DOESN’T CARE. A curse on him, and those of his ilk. The Dark One take him and burn his everlasting soul forever. The man makes me sick.
I weep for our lost Honour.
(IMO) UK military cuts have nothing to do with what any government of the US says or does. The current coalition government is walking the deficit talk, cutting spending across the board including the whole spectrum of armed services. They can do this, as can the rest of Europe, because at the end of the day, they can count on us to defend them.
And whether we like it or not, BO is much more respected in the UK than GWB ever was. One major driver in the fall of the labor government was their close association with GWB. Blair was derided as GWB’s poodle (replacing him with Brown was too little, too late), and Cameron rose to the top assuring his fellow brits that he didn’t see much of a special relationship.
It’s a funny old place, where county coroners hold inquests on combat deaths, and find fault with commanders for putting troops into dangerous situations. where new Recon/ASW birds are chopped up for scrap over the weekend to prevent reconsideration of the decision to retire them, and where perfectly good Harriers are sold on ebay, (well, maybe not ebay, but you get the idea)
Btw, one plan for supplying something to fly off the brand new bird farm involved subbing out the supply of the airwing to France…
We didn’t rename the USS Winston Churchill, yet.
I think you’ll find “Ozzies” are drunken, mental deficients with their own reality TV show. While “drunken” and “mental deficient” may describe us quite well, we are in fact, “Aussies”.
Still, we’ll stand with you but we’ll be glad when you blokes put Barry out to pasture and get back on track.