What do you think of the 'special relationship' between the UK and USA?

Question

Does Britain benefit from it? Or is it just the 51st state, controlled from Washington DC?
Please explain your answer.

Answer 1

ask tony

Answer 2

The decision has obviously been made at the highest levels to support the USA, right or wrong.

Lets analysis this relationship. America wins because:

The USA has an ally who uses its substantial diplomatic skills to support and further its own ends. Without British support, America would have been effectively isolated in pursuing the second Iraq war.
America often makes its friends its purse and Britain is no exception. The UK military buys a large amount of material from the US, such as support aircraft, munitions, conventional missile and artillery systems and Trident nuclear rockets. Naturally the real money is to be made in the support that such equipment requires.

Mutual benefits comes from shared intelligence (in general, but especially during the Falklands War).

By supporting America, Britain has been able to gain some share in the money to be made in Iraq. British troops are now the some of the most combat-hardened in the world. British leaders are able to gain access to the highest tables in the world when it comes to economic or diplomatic matters.

The question is which country has the better deal out of the Special Relationship? The answer is, without doubt, the USA.

One arguement made was the Britain provided a bridge between Europe and the US. Well, that didn't work did it?
Britain is no longer a major world power and its influence really has to be allied to others. In my opinion the European Union would be a much more suitable partner for Britain to give its whole-hearted support to rather than the USA. I am not saying that friendly relationship are impossible with the US, it is just that Europe offers a more balanced partnership for Britain to support and to gain from.

Answer 3

Special relationship? I really doubt one exists.

It's really a tale of 2 opportunists striving for political clout, yet oblivious to the realities of well, reality, and what people really think and know.

Nothing is more common in ideologically driven politics than the triumph of conviction over evidence and reason. I have no reason to doubt that the Washington war party, in the grip of ideological self-intoxication, had come sincerely to believe in the seriousness of the supposed Iraqi threat. Within weeks of September 11 they had convinced the President; within months they had convinced the governments of Britain and Australia.

How? I cannot pretend to understand the process by which Tony Blair and his cabinet were converted to the reality of an Iraqi threat.

Equally, I cannot pretend to understand that there is any special relationship between the USA and the UK - other than political expediency.

Either way, recent election results are beginning to expose that people are not the dummies Bush and Blair thought.

Answer 4

I think this relationship existed longer than anyone alive in America or Britain..Believe it or not.there is much we share in common( except language) Having said that with the Iraq war and its failures,it is understandable why many in Britain think their government is a puppet regime controlled by the U.S. but this is illusion and good propaganda that is used by a common enemy..!
We both benefit from this relationship in so many ways..culture..
lifestyle.security.. How many in Britain recall the war with Argentina which America had to choose between two allies...was there any doubt which side they would stand on?

Answer 5

I don't think there is a "special relationship". A relatonship has to work both ways and it just doesn't. Our Government panders to America at the drop of a hat even when it is not in our interest. Such pandering has recently made us a target of suicide bombers that would have previously have ignored us. Our culture and our politics are much more like Europe than they are America.
If the "relationship" was so special and worked both ways, why was the IRA basically funded from America. Don't talk to me about the "war on terror" for that very reason.

Answer 6

Definitely UK Benefits, using USA as a police station for the world's control. USA is meant to assure the protection of UK interests all over the world. Israel is a tool as rent a car.

UK's tool is democracy and intelligence services of all over the world. This is the most suitable way to rule the world by being behind the screen and a hidden godfather.

Answer 7

No, Canada is the 51st state.

The benefit to the UK is its ability to plant spies in the US. That's worth pretending to be a friend to the US.

Answer 8

I'm British and dislike American's for many justified reasons. I can see that Tony Blaire is doing it for our benefit because he wants us to have support from the US in the future. Realistically we're the USA's best ally. The USA is an ally to no1. Where were they in ww2 and ww1? They turned up late in both the wars. They didn't join in, in ww2 until pearl harbour was bombed by the japanese. They only care when it effects them. Thats why they cared about the UIC taking control of a lot of somalia but didn't give a dam about the civil war in the D.R. Congo.

Answer 9

It benefits America more than Britain.

Answer 10

It isn't special, it's a con job.
The USA is rightly interested in only what is good for the USA and one day we may have a British government that follows the same principle.

Answer 11

Britain is a nice place to park the boats at that either are not fighting or are in need of repair. Its kinda gay. But it works, we havent fought each other in along time!