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| 120421-N-KQ416-554
ARABIAN SEA (April 21, 2012) The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS
Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary
replenishment oiler RFA Fort Victoria (A387) transit the Arabian Sea.
Abraham Lincoln is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility
conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation
efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Zachary S.
Welch/Released) |
Its time to rethink the "special relationship" between the US and the UK.
My reasoning is that....
*Culturally the two countries are light years apart now. You would be hard pressed for a UK citizen and a US citizen to agree on anything of substance.
*The UK is moving toward Europe and away from the US. Why should we stop it or be concerned by it? The most obvious example is the move by the UK (instigated by them too) to adopt a closer defense alliance with the French. This is by no means a game changer but it does give an indication of where they see their future. Its with the French and not the US.
*What good is it to any of the involved parties? The UK's citizenry (along with the rest of Europe) enjoys bashing the US. It would probably be of great relief to the British people to see the US go away...most Americans caught up in nonsense wouldn't notice...and why should they? It won't affect there lives.
*We need to focus on Asia and the special relationship drags us back to the same tired European issues that are helping to stunt our turn to the east.
There are a couple of other points that I could make but you get the gist of this. We should treat the UK like we treat Germany. Allied but not exactly friendly.
This nonsense with tech sharing has to stop too. Its been a one way street and hasn't benefited us. If you look at BAE's work with the F-35 its been under the banner of their US division. They've had to create that division in order to comply with US restrictions on the selling of our tech on the open market.
Besides, with the way that the UK's governments been in la-la land concerning which airplane they want to buy I wouldn't be surprised to see them simply walk away. Even that might not be such a bad thing. It would probably add a bit of stability to the program if they left. A few countries might decide to follow but not enough to make a difference. Its been a US program from the start and if only the US, China, Russia and India along with a few select allies have stealth why is that bad?
Yeah.
This special relationship must evolve. And by evolve I mean end.
NOTE: THE PROBLEM ISN'T GREATER EUROPE. Its the big 3. The Uk, France and Germany. With the other nations of Europe, if you look at the size of their militaries then you'll see a large contribution was indeed given to the effort in Afghanistan. Additionally several of the other countries on that continent appear to simply want an equal partnership. The big 3 acts as if they're the big brother to America the little one. From the US bashing that is rampant, to the snarky editiorials to the revisionist history its all stale.
