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Britain has been paying a high price for Uncle Sam's craziness.
Story by Simon Tisdall
America spells trouble for Britain. That’s undoubtedly true in the age of Trump – but maybe it’s always been so. The White House’s undisguised contempt for loyal allies in the UK and Europe necessitates a robust reciprocal rethink. How healthy – and desirable – is this partnership? Has it caused more problems than it’s worth?
...
As I write my last foreign affairs commentary for the Observer, I look back over nearly 50 years and wonder, firstly, at the false narrative, not confined to Donald Trump, that American altruism is exploited by “freeloading” European Nato allies. What tosh! US troops and missiles are based here primarily to defend the US. Since 1945, Washington has viewed Europe as its first line of defence against Russia. Germany was the US’s preferred cold war battlefield, Britain its airfield. Perish the thought that Americans might actually fight on their own soil (except against each other). US wars are typically waged in faraway places. That’s why the 1962 Cuba missile crisis came as such a shock.
...
Are US policymakers innately incompetent, uninformed or simply unlucky? It scarcely matters as long as Britain and Europe feel locked in a toxic relationship from which there is no escape. Except Trump and his good ’ol boys, oozing online hillbilly hostility, unwittingly offer a chance of deliverance to those bold enough to take it.
...
Such rudeness and condescension do not come out of nowhere. We British know; those ugly Americans learned their imperial arrogance from us. What’s new is Trump’s debasement and corruption of America’s constitutional and democratic tradition. Moral authority is being lost, and with it the right to lead.
...
...
As I write my last foreign affairs commentary for the Observer, I look back over nearly 50 years and wonder, firstly, at the false narrative, not confined to Donald Trump, that American altruism is exploited by “freeloading” European Nato allies. What tosh! US troops and missiles are based here primarily to defend the US. Since 1945, Washington has viewed Europe as its first line of defence against Russia. Germany was the US’s preferred cold war battlefield, Britain its airfield. Perish the thought that Americans might actually fight on their own soil (except against each other). US wars are typically waged in faraway places. That’s why the 1962 Cuba missile crisis came as such a shock.
...
Are US policymakers innately incompetent, uninformed or simply unlucky? It scarcely matters as long as Britain and Europe feel locked in a toxic relationship from which there is no escape. Except Trump and his good ’ol boys, oozing online hillbilly hostility, unwittingly offer a chance of deliverance to those bold enough to take it.
...
Such rudeness and condescension do not come out of nowhere. We British know; those ugly Americans learned their imperial arrogance from us. What’s new is Trump’s debasement and corruption of America’s constitutional and democratic tradition. Moral authority is being lost, and with it the right to lead.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/britain-has-been-paying-a-high-price-for-uncle-sam-s-craziness-it-s-time-to-turn-to-europe/ar-AA1BUeoj
ETA: There is a glitch in the piece, though. It suggests the American Revolution which began in 1776 was a back stab to those opposing Napoleon. He was 7 years old in 1776 and was not commissioned in the Royal Army until 1785. He did not seize power by staging a coup until 1799. Oops.