Thanks a lot, Mr. President. You insulted our Queen by giving her an iPod as if she were some primitive tribal leader wide eyed for magical technological totems. You treated our Prime Minister as if he were the boss of a small waste management company touting for a drain clearing contract in some Chicago precinct (I don’t like Gordon Brown but he is sending our young men and women to fight and sometimes die alongside your troops in Afghanistan). You also sent back a bust of one of our greatest heroes, Sir Winston Churchill, loaned to the White House since 9/11.
You obviously prefer to bow low to the Emperor of Japan, placate Vladimir “Il Duce” Putin of Russia and not get too overly fussed about the savage repression of pro democracy demonstrators in Iran – but somehow we’re beginning to get the feeling that we Brits don’t really mean all that much to you.
Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.
Despite Britain’s close alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue.
But what about that insignificant little sideshow in 1982 when an Argentinian army invaded and illegally occupied the Falklands? Some of the newly elected President Reagan’s advisers, like UN Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick , tried to argue for strict neutrality. They, and many others, including the Argentinian military junta, saw Britain as weak in will and conviction – there might be angry words and vague threats but eventually there would follow a series of diplomatic manoeuvres ending in some sort of facesaving device that awarded Argentina a foothold in the islands.
But they reckoned without UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She was determined to use this incident to show that Britain was no longer going to play the part of the world’s punchbag. Within weeks a task force was assembled and despatched to recapture the islands – and if anyone doubted the steeliness of her will the sinking of the Argentinian light cruiser “General Belgrano” proved beyond doubt that that the pundits had made a massive miscalculation. But Ronald Reagan was not surprised – he knew the lady’s measure and also how she spoke on behalf of the vast majority of British people.
But President Obama and his Cook County cronies have little feel for history.
Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.
Instead the administration appears more concerned with appeasing the radical left wing Latin American regimes aligned with President Chavez of Venezuela. The bizarre State Department mishandling of the recent political upheaval in Honduras was an early symptom of this behaviour. It seems that now Obama is more concerned with getting credit with the Kirchnerist regime in Argentina than supporting a long standing ally.
Kevin Casas-Zamora, a Brookings Institution analyst and former vice-president of Costa Rica, said that President Reagan’s support for Britain in 1982 “irked a lot of people in Latin America”.
The Obama Administration “is trying to split the difference as much as it can because it knows that coming round to the British position would again create a lot of ill will in the region”, he said.
The Falklands today are very different from the isolated and old fashioned community that existed in 1982. It is a thriving, energetic power house rich with natural resources – which, of course, is the reason why the Argentinians have once more begun beating the tattered “Malvinas” drum. However there is also a far stronger military presence in the area which means that their sabre might be rattled but is unlikely to be withdrawn from the scabbard.
The graves of British servicemen at San Carlos Cemetery reflect the price paid for the eviction of the Argentinian invaders. Not even the gang of shifty and self serving confidence tricksters who make up the current Labour government would dare to renege on such a compact.
Britain and America will not always see eye to eye – it is in the nature of families that disagreements will arise. But surely the bonds of friendship between us, sealed with blood and bone, should signify a little more to Barack Obama than the desire to elicit a grunt of approval from the likes of Chavez, Kirchner and their fellow posturing, prancing, left wing clowns…..
Pay no attention to the usurper in the White House. Real Americans support Great Britain.
I agree with Joe Alfieri. Do not fret, obama will be gone after the 2012 election. The American people overwhelmingly support Great Britian in this dispute. Not to worry, it is not like you need our military support to defend the Falklands and/or defeat Argentina. I know it would be nice if the country with which you have a ‘special relationship’ would at least lend moral and diplomatic support but consider that our President is an amature geopolitical poker player and besides he hates Great Britian with a passion due to their earlier colonialism, pathetic I know. Don’t worry the American people are not going to elect him again, the Tea Party movement will be mostly responsible for sending obama to the trash heap of history with Jimmy Carter.
We offer sincerest apologies to our British brothers and sisters. President Obama shows little affection for his own country much less for England. One need only listen to the endless race-baiting diatribes by his old pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright or the tired Maoist dogma spewed by several of his top advisors to appreciate his disdain for all things “white” and “Western”. He does not speak for me or many other Americans at this point. His regime is a bubble about to burst. Fear not, the yanks will be with you.
The people of America are with the people of Britain although both of our governments are run by whores, liars and thieves.
Americans know what you say is true and agree with it. The disrespect shown to your Prime Minister and Queen appalled many of us.Obama, or Dear Leader, as he is known to many of us, is mad because his grandfather was imprisoned during the Mau-Mau uprisings of the 1950’s.It’s too bad granddad wasn’t killed then; we’d both be better off. BO has managed to appoint about 45 “czars” but has yet to hire a Protocol Officer, and God knows he needs one.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by TheAgedP: Obama hanging Brits out to dry over Falklands says Aged P http://bit.ly/bXGTGB…
Not to worry, Aged P…you Brits are in great company. Obama is treating Britain with the same esteem and regard that he treats the average American citizen. We have both been relegated to his dustbin of his priorities.
This might be a good time for the British government to remind The USA that these vestigial bits of empire can be mighty handy at times – would the USA like Great Britain to leave Diego Garcia, and leave the USA without a base for long-range bombing in the Persian Gulf?
In the end, oblamo will be turning into rotting flesh in a sewer pond with not a single soul mourning him. Then, the Brits and the Yanks will return to a grand friendship cemented together as one against the world.
I am shamed by the treatment that our current President has shown Britain and Israel, both staunch allies. Obama is a marxist, who admires petty commie tyrants and, I think, fancies himself one as opposed to President. He pointedly ignores our Constitution as if it no longer applies. Watch our mid-term elections in Nov, 2010. We’re calling them the Tsunami. It’s going to wash a lot of scum out of the pond and leave The Bummer a lame duck.
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Thanks a lot, Mr. President. You insulted our Queen by giving her an iPod as if she were some primitive tribal leader wide eyed for magical technological totems…..
I agree with Joe Alfieri. Do not fret, obama will be gone after the 2012 election. The American people overwhelmingly support Great Britian in this dispute. Not to worry, it is not like you need our military support to defend the Falklands and/or defeat Argentina. I know it would be nice if the country with which you have a ‘special relationship’ would at least lend moral and diplomatic support but consider that our President is an amature geopolitical poker player and besides he hates Great Britian with a passion due to their earlier colonialism, pathetic I know. Don’t worry the American people are not going to elect him again, the Tea Party movement will be mostly responsible for sending obama to the trash heap of history with Jimmy Carter.
I agree with Joe Alfieri. Do not fret, obama will be gone after the 2012 election. The American people overwhelmingly support Great Britian in this dispute. Not to worry, it is not like you need our military support to defend the Falklands and/or defeat Argentina. I know it would be nice if the country with which you have a ‘special relationship’ would at least lend moral and diplomatic support but consider that our President is an amature geopolitical poker player and besides he hates Great Britian with a passion due to their earlier colonialism, pathetic I know. Don’t worry the American people are not going to elect him again, the Tea Party movement will be mostly responsible for sending obama to the trash heap of history with Jimmy Carter.
The people of America are with the people of Britain although both of our governments are run by whores, liars and thieves.
I am shamed by the treatment that our current President has shown Britain and Israel, both staunch allies. Obama is a marxist, who admires petty commie tyrants and, I think, fancies himself one as opposed to President. He pointedly ignores our Constitution as if it no longer applies. Watch our mid-term elections in Nov, 2010. We’re calling them the Tsunami. It’s going to wash a lot of scum out of the pond and leave The Bummer a lame duck.
I agree with Joe Alfieri. Do not fret, obama will be gone after the 2012 election. The American people overwhelmingly support Great Britian in this dispute. Not to worry, it is not like you need our military support to defend the Falklands and/or defeat Argentina. I know it would be nice if the country with which you have a ‘special relationship’ would at least lend moral and diplomatic support but consider that our President is an amature geopolitical poker player and besides he hates Great Britian with a passion due to their earlier colonialism, pathetic I know. Don’t worry the American people are not going to elect him again, the Tea Party movement will be mostly responsible for sending obama to the trash heap of history with Jimmy Carter.
Americans know what you say is true and agree with it. The disrespect shown to your Prime Minister and Queen appalled many of us.Obama, or Dear Leader, as he is known to many of us, is mad because his grandfather was imprisoned during the Mau-Mau uprisings of the 1950’s.It’s too bad granddad wasn’t killed then; we’d both be better off. BO has managed to appoint about 45 “czars” but has yet to hire a Protocol Officer, and God knows he needs one.