Foreign policy is a deep study, unsuited to the short attention spans of democratic politics. It is unlikely to figure in the forthcoming election. Yet there is still enough time for long views before the campaigning starts, and two interesting contributions to foreign affairs have recently been published. One of them made headlines: the report of the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee which advocated a more cautious approach to the US and proclaimed the death of the special relationship.
Scepticism is in order. The coroner has often been called on to deal with that supposed corpse, and a wise coroner would come to two conclusions: that it never existed, and that it will last for the indefinite future. As the Irishman said, “This pig doesn’t weigh as much as I thought it did, but then again, I never thought it would”.
Those who announce the relationship’s death usually start with a shocking discovery: that America always places its own interests first. This would not have come as news to Winston Churchill, who invented the phrase “special relationship” and who could have provided a score of examples of American unilateralism.
Read it all.
Bruce Anderson (Independent): Shock, horror… America places its own interests first
Foreign policy is a deep study, unsuited to the short attention spans of democratic politics. It is unlikely to figure in the forthcoming election. Yet there is still enough time for long views before the campaigning starts, and two interesting contributions to foreign affairs have recently been published. One of them made headlines: the report of the House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee which advocated a more cautious approach to the US and proclaimed the death of the special relationship.
Scepticism is in order. The coroner has often been called on to deal with that supposed corpse, and a wise coroner would come to two conclusions: that it never existed, and that it will last for the indefinite future. As the Irishman said, “This pig doesn’t weigh as much as I thought it did, but then again, I never thought it would”.
Those who announce the relationship’s death usually start with a shocking discovery: that America always places its own interests first. This would not have come as news to Winston Churchill, who invented the phrase “special relationship” and who could have provided a score of examples of American unilateralism.
Read it all.