Hey Britain (actually not all of Britain) – you all hated George W. Bush and cheered on Barack Obama so what are you complaining about? Obama regards Britain the same way he regards Israel, Czech Republic, South Korea, Poland and Australia i.e. foolish countries that believe in freedom and allied themselves with the United States.
Obama’s disdain for the special relationship was evident when he returned the bust of Winston Churchill that Britain gave this country shortly after 9/11. Churchill was too much of a fighter against tyranny for the metro sexual who now occupies FDR’s and Truman’s seat. Let us not forget the iPod he gave Queen Elizabeth that contained his political speeches, his giving Gordon Brown 25 DVD’s that cannot play in Britain, well you have all the makings of a disastrous relationship between the U.S.A. and the U.K. The next time the British chattering classes tries to cheer on an American running for POTUS – remember that elections not only have consequences n America but overseas as well.
The Obama administration’s decision to remain neutral in the dispute between Great Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands is a shameful decision that will go down very badly across the Atlantic. As The Times has just reported, Washington has point blank refused to support British sovereignty over the Falklands, and is adopting a strictly neutral approach.
In the words of a State Department spokesman:
“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”
The remarks had echoes of an earlier statement by a senior State Department protocol official who, when asked about the shoddy treatment of the British Prime Minister in March last year, responded:
“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.”
Even by the relentlessly poor standards of the Obama administration, whose doctrine unfailingly appears to be “kiss your enemies and kick your allies”, this is a new low. The White House’s neutrality in a major dispute between America’s closest friend and the likes of Venezuelan tyrant Hugo Chavez, Argentina’s biggest backer, represents the appalling appeasement of an alliance of anti-Western Latin American regimes, stretching from Caracas to Havana – combined with a callous indifference towards the Anglo-American alliance.
Over the course of the last year, we’ve seen a staggering array of foreign policy follies by this administration, from the throwing under the bus of the Poles and the Czechs over missile defence to siding with Marxists in Honduras. But this latest pronouncement surely takes the biscuit as the most brazen betrayal so far of a US ally.
[…]
Thousands of British soldiers are laying their lives on the line alongside their American allies on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Yet the president of the United States is either unwilling or too timid to offer a single word of support for the British people, who face a mounting confrontation with a corrupt, populist Argentine government that is threatening a blockade of British territory.
To put it bluntly, the Obama administration is killing the Special Relationship, and the prospects of a recovery look extremely bleak as long as Barack Obama remains in the White House.
Tags: Falklands
