Detroying our ancient traditions and liberties
Depressing article in the Guardian on how military Britain is now just a client state of the US.Blogger just ate my post so I'll keep it short. The authors say
1. We can't fire cruse missiles without US say-so.
2. We can't operate our nuclear weapson.
3. We can't expel the US from its bases on UK territory.
4. GCHQ relies on US intelligence.
5. We can't fight wards without the US's permission.
6. We can't get our citizens out of US military justice.
7. We sign treaties which require us to do things but not them (extradition a recent example)
Now you can overstate some of these, which in reality are just 'the US is a superpower and the UK is not' Most of them apply to most countries of Western Europe. Even where they don't, e..g France's nuclear deterrent, it is almost inconceivable that France will ever fire nuclear weapons without at least tacit US approval (the threatening of Paris by armies or nukes seems the only real scenario).
The problem is not so much the actualite -- that is a reflection of the US's overwhelming power. It is that so many British politicans and citizens believe that it is a partnership of equals based of common goals. It is neither of these.
posted by Matthew @ 7/17/2003 03:34:00 PM
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