Between Shakespeare and Jane Eyre. When it comes to the United States (much of which was its colony), Britain behaves somewhat like Othello with Desdemona, a relationship consumed by jealousy (in this case, of France, Germany, the E.U. ..), and partly as one of the damsels in romantic novels, before the empowerment of women and the fall from grace of the heteropatriarchy, who were infatuated with a good boy who did not I didn’t pay attention to them and spent the days peeling the daisy: he loves me, he doesn’t love me…
Power came unless it finds its place in the world (let alone now, after the Brexit disaster, the chaos of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, with the highest inflation of the G-7), the UK has been basing foreign policy in the special relationship with the United States, which basically consists of the fact that Washington’s wishes are orders (for example, signing up for the Iraq war) in exchange for intelligence scoops intelligence (such as knowing that Wagner’s troops were advancing on Moscow before any other ally). Crumbs.
But, while previous American presidents made the paper of being in love with Great Britain, it is not the case of Joe Biden, proud of Irish ancestors, who does not forgive British responsibility for the famine that cost the lives of million and brought ancestors into exile, colonial tyranny and state terrorism by the army, police and intelligence services in Ulster, in response to IRA terrorism .
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreements, Biden spent half a day in Belfast and three in Dublin; he did not come to the coronation of Charles III., and sent the wife in his place; and now, on the way to the NATO summit in Lithuania, he has limited himself to spending the night at the residence of his country’s ambassador in Regent’s Park, speaking for forty minutes with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Downing Street and tea fast with the king at Windsor Castle. Brevity, the diplomatic equivalent of the reign of Louis I (which lasted only 229 days), the mandate of Liz Truss (44 days), or the one that Camacho lasted on the Real Madrid bench (20 days), Jorge Valdano in that of Valencia (three days) or Luis Aragonés at that of Betis. Or the twenty seconds it took Mike Tyson to KO Marvis Frazier.
Nevertheless, the half-day gave a lot of play, enough for Biden to say that the United States “could not have a better friend and a more faithful ally than Great Britain”, and that “the relationship is stronger than ever” (blah, blah, blah). Behind the screen of good words, a noticeable difference in approach about Ukraine. London wants to speed up entry into NATO, while Washington prefers to go slowly (among other things, because it would now mean going to war with Russia). The American president has announced the shipment of grape bombs to Kyiv, while the British are signatories to the treaty that condemns their construction, sale and use. Downing Street wanted British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to head NATO, but the White House has vetoed him (speculated to be because he served with the Scots Guards in Northern Ireland).
Although there are still many things that bind them together, the old partners have drifted apart lately, and London is like the men or women who think they give everything to make the relationship work, but get little in return. No longer the general secretariat of NATO, but also a beneficial bilateral trade agreement that would partially alleviate the harmful effects of leaving the EU. But Biden does not hide that Brexit seems to him a supine nonsense, that, moreover, it threatens peace in Ulster, and that London must pay a price (the same as the EU thinks, satisfied that it threatens other secessions, such as that of France, has been diluted).
British conservatives, whose time seems to be coming soon, see Biden as a Eurofederalist who has more regard for Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz and Ursula von der Leyen than for Rishi Sunak (which is probably true), and towards Brussels as the “capital of the free world” on this side of the Atlantic, despite the fact that France and Germany spend less on defense than the United Kingdom, and that a European army would undermine the role of NATO.
Jealousy, spite, unrequited love. Britons feel America is ignoring them when they need it most.
