Brits play long ball in the Pacific.

pic via Naval Today.

For some reason the Brits are much better at the "international" good will game than we are.  When it comes to brute force, strong arm tactics and bending nations to our will, we have no peers.

If we like you and feel a kinship then you'll find no better friend.  If you have something we want, you'll find no better buyer.

But what happens when you're in that grey area where you're not quite our best friend and you have something to sell that we want but don't necessarily need?

Ask the Filipinos and compare our response to the Brits.

The USMC made a huge show of the MV-22 and its response to the affected area. Meanwhile you have the Brits that quietly and efficiently sent their warships to the area, got on with the mission and now have the Filipino people making signs thanking them for their work (on this note another country that performed admirably but mostly unnoticed is Israel...they setup a hospital with astonishing speed, rebuilt schools etc.).

Lessons learned for this exercise?  State, USAID and NGOs need to be the face of our efforts at disaster relief.  Never use a crisis to test a concept...its unseemly.  Cut back on the propaganda (the MV-22 talking points were beyond bad taste, they were embarrassing).  There is time for that when people are no longer suffering.  Oh and maybe do it the way the Brits did.