Some Heavy Musings on the Special Relationship Posted by Adam Blickstein

Pat's post is an excellent light examination of the current state of the special relationship between the U.S. and Britain. When Winston Churchill first uttered the phrase in 1945, it signaled a cementing of military cooperation between the two powers in the post-war world, predicated on the looming strategic threat from the Soviet Union. The traditional military underpinnings of the special relationship, though, arguably saw its bookend in terms of what we commonly viewed it as meaning during the Balkan crisis and NATO's Kosovo intervention in 1999. It was a coalescing of common strategic interest and internal domestic support, as well as the binding interventionist views of both Clinton and Blair. But post-Kosovo, there was a strategic breakdown between the two countries vis-à-vis Blair's support for the Iraq war as a deviation from the special relationship, not an indicator of its strength (though Bush used lofty rhetoric to suggest otherwise).

British historian Ian Kershaw examined this angle in an LA Times piece last year. It suggests that while the nature of the special relationship has retained common strategic aims, divergent strategies on how to achieve these common goals and differing degrees of domestic opinion have transformed it. Also, the financial crisis could move Britain closer to Europe in order to bolster its economic security, which might be another indicator that the traditional view of the special relationship is more specious than before.

The key to the special relationship has been that it was never based on a myopic partnership solely between the America and Britain, but that the U.K and U.S traditionally lead broad coalitions of nations with common strategic goals and common internal domestic views. Domestic political uncertainty and dissatisfaction amongst traditional allies, not to mention the effects of the economic crisis, may hinder our ability to return to the traditional notion of a special relationship. Indeed Blair's support for the Iraq war may have inextricably scarred it. Perhaps Barack Obama and Gordon Brown can reinvigorate it, especially in terms of Afghanistan, by reengaging our allies, especially those who are still reluctant to participate in necessary military operations there (Britain has already intimated it is indeed up to other allies to act first on increasing their commitment in Afghanistan).

But Obama's first step in attempting to resuscitate the special relationship wouldn't be to necessarily court Britain specifically and then branch out from there, but to implement a broader strategic framework which would reengage all our traditional allies. By doing so, Britain and America could once again be the leaders of many instead of trying to go it alone as a tandem, something which has sabotaged the special relationship for 8 years now

Comments

[Zathras]

It is worth recalling that the special relationship in its modern form originated as a relationship between elites of a declining but still powerful empire under mortal threat, on the one hand, and the rising superpower on the other.

Though this relationship was buttressed by shared language and religious tradition as well as by the many personal contacts made during two world wars, its core was a small number of men on each side of the Atlantic who saw on the other side things they thought valuable for their own country. For Britain, America meant survival to begin with, and later a means by which to sustain a larger world role than its own resources would have permitted it to play. For the United States, Britain was the essential ally in the defeat of Nazi Germany, later a source of information and counsel concerning areas of the world America had all but ignored during its long isolationist period, and still later an ally whose identification with American values and (mostly) interests could be assumed.

The orientation of each country's elites has changed by this time. America's has turned inward; Britain's has turned toward Europe. In the United States, the end of the Cold War ended the insulation from domestic politics -- and its crudest form, campaign politics -- that had enabled foreign policy specialists to pursue relations with Britain and many other countries without undue regard to whether it did them much good politically. In recent administrations, government actions without obvious political benefit have been seen as less valuable. Great Britain had reached out in its hour of peril to the United States to defend against a mortal threat from Europe; once Europe ceased to be a potential source of such threat, ties to Britain's near neighbors were bound to assume greater importance relative to relations with the giant superpower across the ocean.

So the relationship is attenuated compared to what it was, as it was bound to be -- but the basic alignment of American and British values was not fundamentally deranged until the Bush administration mortgaged it to the adventure in Iraq. To some extent, British leaders and Tony Blair especially had themselves to blame for the sequence of events that led thousands of British troops to be stuck for years performing a mission not obviously helpful to British national interests. Blair never told President Bush "no" -- a step that would have been as bitterly resented in Washington at the time as Eisenhower's refusal to support the Anglo-French Suez operation had been in London almost a half-century earlier, but which could have been repaired as the earlier one was without leaving a residue of deep popular resentment.

Bush's administration allowed the value of the special relationship to come into question in Britain by miring British forces in a prolonged Iraqi civil war. It also allowed the alignment of British and American values to be thrown further in doubt by the way it chose to proceed against people detained on suspicion of terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere or for various reasons within Iraq. Bush allowed the growth of a conviction in Britain that he and his administration were not really interested in British views, a conviction not notably at variance with the Bush's actual attitude or that of his Vice President. The final bit of damage was done in the last year, when Bush stood mute while the financial markets spun through one crisis after another toward collapse, undermining any sense that the American government, though presiding over the world's largest economy, really knew what it was doing.

This is the catalog of damage done by the current administration, which must be repaired by the next one. It should be possible; some parts of it may even be easy, as the personally boorish Bush gives way to the more naturally gracious Obama. But we should not think "resuscitating the special relationship" can mean bringing it back to what it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Both the degree to which America has come to be identified in Britain with the person of the incumbent President and the political and economic currents pulling the two countries apart for decades will make rebuilding ties of trust, confidence and a sense of shared purpose the work of many years and of more than one administration. Most of all it will require, in the United States, some rebuilding of the insulation from domestic politics that sustained this relationship as well as many others for so many years.

[habbo credits]

Welcome to our game world, my friend asks me to buy some habbo gold . I do not know how to use the habbo coins ; my friend tells me how to use. I will thank for my friends bringing me in this world. I am not regret to buy buy habbo gold . We all love game, if you want to play it, please cheap habbo credits and join us. Please do not hesitate to have game.

[tibia gp]

When you have Tibia Gold, you will become strong. With Tibia coins, you can upgrade and admire by others. You can use Tibia money to start the journey of the world. So, do not hesitate, let us move to buy tibia gp

[buy lindens]

Welcome to our second life linden center. We can provide all what you want if you want. Our secondlife money are specialized, professional and reliable website for selling cheap linden and providing linden dollars.

[dd]

I hope i can get Sho Online Mun in low price,
Yesterday i bought Sho Mun for my friend.

[aoc gold]

My friends like to play it and buy aoc gold. If you have money to buy age of conan gold, you will find it is very useful.

[Prada Handbags]

I hope i can get Sho Online Mun in low price

[replica Tiffany Bangle]

I hope i can get Sho Online Mun in low price

[cheap coach handbags]

Thank you for your sharing! I like i very much!

[cheap coach bags]

Great comments! You are so nice, man! You never know how much i like'em!

[sohbet odaları]

This is a very good site..

sonra bedava chat
burasıda var bedava sohbet

[FFXIV Gil]

Are you fighting in Final Fantasy XIV for FFXIV Gil or Final Fantasy XIV Gil?
Can you suffer yourself being called newbie in FFXIV Gil game?
Are you seeking unofficial Buy FFXIV Gil cheats or Final Fantasy XIV guides in order to make Final Fantasy XIV Gil faster?
Can you get millions of Cheap FFXIV Gil in one day?
Even if you know how to farm Buy Final Fantasy XIV Gil you have to prepare enough Final Fantasy XIV Power Leveling first to buy height class Final Fantasy XIV Items, to upgrade your Final Fantasy XIV characters.
FF14 Gil Then why not Buy FFXIV Gil from us?
In Final Fantasy XIV it's the fastest way FF14 Gil,for you to get rich. We are online 24 hours a day ready and 7 days one week to power up your FFXIV Gil accounts with FFXIV Gil. Here is the best place for the Final Fantasy XIV Online players to buy your Final Fantasy XIV Gil.
We are the professional website in FFXIV GIL sale.FFXIV GIL here,We are professional FFXIV Power Leveling online. We update price every single day to make sure we are the lowest in the market.(we don't compare price with scam sites which uses unbelievable low price to deceive.)
Our slogan:Cheapest price, Fastest delivery, Best service! Final Fantasy Xiv Gil
In the 2 years we are in this field , FFXIV Gilbuilt many business with tens of thousands of customers. They are very satisfied with our service.So if you want to get a log of Cheap FFXIV Gil ,no doubt ,come to our website to buy. Our customer service is ready for you on line now!(WWW,GM MMO,COM Sell FFXIV Gil)