Alphen,
Netherlands. 13 February. When asked at the Franco-American summit this week if
France had replaced Britain as America’s special friend President Obama replied
that it was like asking him to choose between his two beautiful daughters. President Hollande replied that France and
America had helped each other win freedom and that France was America’s oldest
ally – against Britain. In so doing President
Hollande ignored the many tens of thousands of British soldiers lying dead
in Commonwealth war cemeteries across France who also died for France’s
freedom. President Obama ignored the
many thousands of British soldiers killed and maimed supporting American policy
this past decade. Clearly, Britain’s
relationship with the US is being downgraded by this administration whilst
France’s relationship is being upgraded.
Why?
1.
Washington has a very short memory. All that matters to the Americans is what you
are doing for them today not yesterday. Yesterday
in Geneva a senior NATO official asked me why it seemed France was able to do
far more with its armed forces today than Britain. Simple.
The French were not in Iraq and refused to commit fully to
Afghanistan. There are still 8000
British troops supporting the US in Afghanistan. Moreover, the British armed forces have been
seriously denuded over the past decade giving full support to the US in Iraq, Afghanistan
and elsewhere.
2.
Paris has successfully manipulated the
British Parliament’s wise rejection of last summer’s deeply flawed American
'neither one thing or another' limited strike against Syria for which France
offered full support. The US is also supporting
French operations in Mali for which Britain has only offered some modest logistical
support and a training mission.
3.
The Obama administration does not like
Britain very much. Some of the serious
heavy-hitters in the Administration from the President down really believe that
the future special relationship is with an EU led by Germany and France. Britain – Euro-sceptic in Chief – is seen as
a troublemaker for not bowing to the ‘inevitability’ of further European
integration. Indeed, the Americans are
quietly trying to force British compliance.
4.
Washington today simply fails or refuses
to see the fundamental issues of political and democratic principle that Britain
is fighting for. They are blinded by the
belief that a ‘USE’ would be a kind of putative USA, rather than the inward-looking,
neo-pacifist bureaucratic, dogmatic and intransigent institution which no
American would ever begin to consider legitimate. The coming treatment of Switzerland will be
proof of that.
5.
France, whilst utterly frustrated with
current EU defence still believes the future is European. The EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy
is utterly stymied and unlikely to lead soon to either a reformed or improved
European defence effort. Therefore, for
the time-being a France also worried by the growing influence of Germany over
the European project is signalling a move towards the US and NATO.
6.
London completely miscalculated and
under-estimated the impact on Washington of the military-slashing 2010
Strategic Defence and Security Review. To
the Americans it signalled a determined British retreat from influence which an
Anglophobic administration was all too happy to seize upon.
7.
The whole concept of a ‘special
relationship’ was and is over-blown.
There was a moment during World War Two when the Anglo-American
relationship was special. However, after
the war the Americans were ruthless in their treatment of Britain, particularly
over the repayment of war debt. Over
time the ‘special relationship’ simply became a fig-leaf the Americans offered
British leaders to mask Britain’s rapid decline. There were moments when the politics of London
and Washington aligned, such as Reagan-Thatcher in the 1980s. However, the ‘special relationship’ is today
little more than a metaphor for Britain’s poodleism.
So, a rapport spécial? Non!
First, France still believes that the future of Europe’s defence should in
time be European and focussed on the EU.
Second, France refuses to see NATO as anything other than an alliance of
last resort that should only be used for collective defence. Third, when a Republican administration eventually
returns it could well be that the politics of London and Washington become
re-aligned. Fourth, with a confirmed
defence investment budget of £160bn/$261bn the British will re-invest far more
in defence than a France trapped in the Eurozone. Moreover, excluding France
the British defence investment plan is bigger than the rest of NATO Europe
combined.
The real lessons for London, Paris and the rest of
Europe are this; abandon romantic notions of a special relationship/rapport spécial
with the Americans. Yes, European allies
will still have value to the Americans as a pool of democratic legitimacy for
American action. However, the real test
of any relationship with and for the Americans will be the extent to which an
ally offers an increasingly Asia-Pacific focused and over-stretched America
hard support. And, if London plays its
current cards right and stops retreating both in political mind and fact within a decade the only real military show
in Europe will be a British show.
Power is what influences Washington – nothing more,
nothing less.
Julian Lindley-French
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