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November 17, 2004
The 'special relationship' with the USA
There was a discussion on another blog about the ‘special relationship and what we get out of it’. Here are my 2 cents worth on this subject:
“There are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests” Palmerston. Blair ignores this by clinging to the Bush government. In time he will be seen as one of the weakest of our prime ministers.
Geopolitics, history and common sense all indicate that a dominant power chooses its own policies without being influenced by the special wishes of others - however friendly. We should not expect favours from the Americans, it simply doesn’t work like that.
Britain should decide what it wants and then try to make alliances around those objectives. For example, if it wants more action on climate control it should get together with other countries that are looking for the same thing.
Historically Britain has almost always been against a dominant power: against the France of Louis XIV and Napoleon, the Germany of Hitler etc. That is the way that we have maximized our influence as a relatively small country.
Posted by Simon Holledge at November 17, 2004 01:34 PM
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