Posted on 05/12/2010 10:40:12 PM PDT by cold start
Americans following this week's U.K. elections should know that if David Cameron becomes the next prime minister, his Conservative government will work hard to "establish a new special relationship" with . . . India. Unlike that former British colony or China, America plays a decidedly "unspecial" role in the Tory manifesto. The election platform simply says that relations with the U.S. will be "strong, close and frank," or, in the words of Shadow Foreign Minister William Hague, "solid but not slavish."
Where Mr. Blair was both devotedly pro-American and pro-European, Mr. Cameron is neither.
No doubt part of the Tories' more skeptical Atlanticism amounts to a promise that they will be nobody's poodle.
But the Conservatives' drive to deepen ties with countries such as China and India over those with the U.S. is more than an election ploy. It is also a reaction to the Obama Administration's repeated snubs of Britain. These have been personal—Mr. Obama's refusal last year to grant Mr. Brown a formal bilateral meeting; symbolic—the removal of the Churchill bust from the White House; and substantive—Hillary Clinton's avowed neutrality in Britain's recently revived dispute with Argentina over the Falklands, a.k.a. "Las Malvinas."
This was probably not the change most Britons were hoping for when, from afar, they overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama's Presidential bid in 2008. In March, the British Parliament's foreign-affairs committee said that the phrase "special relationship" no longer reflects political reality and should be dropped. "The foreign policy approach we are advocating is in many ways similar to the more pragmatic tone President Obama has adopted towards the U.K.," the committee tartly noted.
.................But the British coolness is another sign that President Obama's decision to downgrade relations with America's closest allies is having negative consequences.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Americans should start sending letters to the Brit government apologizing for Obama.
Our President is a dipsh&t.
It will take a LONG time to undo the damage this dilettante’s administration has created.
A manchild, being led by the nose by extremeists, creating unsustainable policies.
Hope-changey, indeed...
So many countries that deserve an apology—need more stamps.
The Queen Mother has forgotten more than Zero ever knew, and d*psh*t gives her an Ipod with his arrogant speeches on it.
That alone was insult enough for most folks.
Heck, I've already apologized to the Israeli embassy for Our National Embarrassment, a supportive email to our friends across the way won't hurt.
Isn't that the truth?
Actually, I was wondering if maybe we shouldn't start a website where Americans can sign letter's of apology for Obama and then those letters can be delivered to various previously friendly governments.
As long as the letters avoided negotiating any arrangements on the part of the American nation, which would be illegal as I understand it, the fed couldn't possibly complain. And even if they did, John Kerry did commit treason in negotationg with North Korea (in Switzerland as I recall) while he was still in the US Army, and he never was brought up to charges.
“As long as the letters avoided negotiating any arrangements on the part of the American nation, which would be illegal as I understand it, the fed couldn’t possibly complain.”
I think that negotiating arrangements thing is just for folks in government that aren’t in a position to negotiate - like a congressman, or an Army private. A private citizen obviously has no pretense to be able to negotiate.
(Except I do know a guy that knows a guy that could get you a good deal on a used F-16).
And agreed - what a great idea. How about just the various embassy web sites? I seem to recall something like that gets lots of emails after a tragedy (like Diana’s death, earthquakes, etc.)
From the British Embassy (for Americans) Website:
Ask a question
We’re confident that your enquiry about Britain can be answered by looking at the information available on this website. If it isn’t, or you need further clarification, then please ask our Communications Team. The Communications Team cannot, however, assist with enquiries about visas or passports.
Communications Team
British Embassy
3100 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington DC 20008-3600
britishembassyenquiries@gmail.com
I don't have the resources or knowledge to set up a website to collect signatures, but I bet someone on this site does.
The special relationship will be fine. It’s Bambi we’re not keen on.
I was thinking more in terms of accepting donations for a full page ad in the Wall St. Journal. The ad would publically apologize to our affronted allies in the name of the American People.
The damage that the Kenyan Clown is doing to our foreign relations is going to be one of the saddest legacies of this usurpation.
BS...most of the UK hates the USA. Allies at on time but no need to pretend any longer. Blair’s stand with the US was just a hold over from days gone by. UK is totally different than the days of NATO and now is floating like the rest of Europe.
We are next unless we can stop the obama gang and his enablers in the Republican party.
Then again, most of what you have against Obama is down to his disastrous domestic policies - but none of that is exposed to the great British public. They don't know (and don't care) about his stances on abortion, first amendment rights, illegal immigration and health care, because it doesn't really affect them. Most of them are quite upset about his decided coolness to us - although as you say, it was always on the cards. He made no secret during the campaign that he wasn't a foreign affairs specialist.
Most of the UK certainly does NOT hate the US. American trends, thoughts, economic policies and culture suffuse the anglosphere. That domination worries a lot of people in the UK, but they don’t hate America.
“So many countries that deserve an apology—need more stamps.”
Don’t need stamps. We need a flotilla. Load the ships with the idiot Prince Bloomberg and others of his ilk and plot a one-way course to the British Isles.
That is a very good idea. And you could list the various countries Obama has offended...there's quite a list by now.
The symmetry seemed right...Obama running around the world apologizing for the US, and then the US apologizing for Obama. Perfect bookends.
My recollection is that Kerry met, in Paris, with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese representatives to the Paris peace talks in 1971 while still an active-duty member of the U.S. Navy.
I don’t remember him meeting with the North Koreans at that time. He may have but I don’t remember that.
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