Business as usual after Brown's visit
WASHINGTON DC - The waters have closed here after Gordon Brown's visit, it is business as usual, which these days in the US means businesses going down the tubes.
and newspapers report that companies seeking to avoid bankruptcy have flooded banks with requests for a stay of execution, as promised by one of the president's new schemes.
In the midst of all this I am struck by two bits of wishful thinking I have heard in recent months: that the recession will not deflect the new Administration from foreign affairs and that the UK/US 'special relationship' is as special as it ever was.
Both protestations are, in my view, nonsense.
It is, of course, true that , there is , and so on.
American diplomacy has not gone into hibernation. But the attention of Americans, be they legislators, pundits or office workers is overwhelmingly focussed on the economy.
It is by his ability to answer their concerns that the president will be judged, and not, alas, by any confidence that he could beat Gordon Brown at tennis or netball.
And what of the special relationship? Let us remember that when the phrase was first coined by Churchill it was meant to mean, essentially, the US and UK getting together to run the world.
Britain, at the time of the Second World War, had millions of men and women in the struggle, had broken the German Ultra codes and was passing vital nuclear research to the US. Talk about a valuable ally...
Bit by bit this 'specialness' seeped away during the Cold War.
Britain, it's true shared the nuclear 'burden', but with vastly fewer warheads than the Americans, and remained part of the worldwide signals intelligence gathering system run by the English speaking powers, but increasingly as the junior partner.
These days it is true to say both that Britain remains a key US ally and that many other countries have assumed a bigger relative importance in the American world view: China is vital to financing American debt; Japan remains a huge trading partner; Germany is the key to the Eurozone economies.
Even in Afghanistan, where Britain's willingness to be the second largest troop contributor is most definitely appreciated in Washington, the UK stake is so much smaller that one can't pretend it buys Britain an equal say in Afghan policy.
The post 9/11 'hot' areas of UK/US collaboration are special operations and counter terrorism and it is perhaps only in these fields that the old magic remains.
So why does the Foreign Office or Downing Street rush to remind everybody of the UK's reduced importance by bundling the Prime Minister into the Oval Office?
There is a Whitehall group think about this (in which the media plays its part) that seems to see this question purely in terms of beating the French or Germans to the White House door.
It is a mug's game, because when the Prime Minister got to his Oval Office armchair, it was to be publicly told that the president was not ready to commit to Britain's ideas for a reform of the global financial system.
Sometimes a little dignified distance might not go amiss. Russia and China have much vital business to do with America too, but perhaps their national pride makes them more concerned with maintaining the dignity of their own presidents.
Israel wants the US to be ready to bomb Iran, but we will see how long it is, with the current coalition negotiations on-going, before Benjamin Netanyahu beats his way to the White House.
Other nations such as China, Russia, Germany, France or Israel all loom large in the Washington world view, either as competitors or allies. None it seems share the UK's preoccupation with rushing to show their friendship or with hearing the repetition of a certain phrase like 'special relationship' in the hope that the use of it from one decade to the next will offset the change in its meaning.
Watch my film on Brown's efforts to change US minds:
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I'm Mark Urban, and I'm Newsnight's diplomatic and defence editor. I deal with war and peace around the world, so with apologies to Leo Tolstoy, that's what this blog will be called. No literary pretensions, just an attempt to drill down to the key issues - people around the world struggling for peace and security.
Comment number 1.
At 5th Mar 2009, newsjock wrote:My feelings exactly Marc, but you put it all so much more eloquently.
What the TV media folks do is what annoys me. They give it all such a jingoistic slant as if the UK were still a first rate power, that favours other nations by holding dialogue with their leaders.
The Days of Empire are well and truly gone.
Your comment about the Stars + Stripes Sea (not the Red!) closing after Mr Brown's departure is very apt.
It reminds me of a wee song, which says that if you take your finger out of a bowl of water, and then look at the water, you will see the impression that you have left behind you.
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Comment number 2.
At 5th Mar 2009, barriesingleton wrote:TOTALLY BROWNED OFF
I took notes during Brown's speech to Congress. In the end, I lost the will to live.
At 4.20 GMT I wrote: "Getting embarrassing - cringe."
At 4.25: "Sickening - who wrote it?"
Finally at 4.43: "Oh for - - - - sake!"
BUT WHO WROTE IT?
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Comment number 3.
At 5th Mar 2009, bookhimdano wrote:the continued use of 'the special phrase' just looks like insecurity- like someone desperately clingy and needy.
in reality the special relationship means doormat. in what way is that 'special'?
it was cringingly embarrassing.
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Comment number 4.
At 8th Apr 2009, HerculeSavinien wrote:SOVEREIGN OR VASSAL STATE?
On August (20th) 2009, the United Kingdom will be voting on its national referendum, is the (UK) United Kingdom, having been given the status of Special Relationship with the American Empire, now the (52nd) State of the American Empire? If the United Kingdom is now a state of the American Empire, where is it in the pecking order within the American Empire?
LOYALITY, FIDELITY, TAX'S AND TROOPS
How many troops will the Vassal State provide to the common defense? How much in a war TAX, Pounds Sterling is the (52nd) State to provide to the (Af-Pac) War on Islam? What length of time is the Vassal State commitment to serve within this conflict? What will be the function and purpose of the (52nd) Vassal State within the American Empire?
(IRA AND ISRAEL)
As a Vassal State of the American Empire, Does the (UK) align itself with the American Empires desire for Erin Gabra, a Free Ireland, with an (IRA) Irish Republican Army, if not officially, it has public and financial support from American Empire citizens?
As a Vassal State will (MI-5/6) understand and comply with the intergration of security with both the (CIA) Central Intelligence Agency and the Israeli Mossad which work together out of the same stations around the globe?
VASSAL STATE NOT DOORMAT
This is the (21st) Century and on August (20th) the (UK) United Kingdom will be casting its vote as to its place in the New Era, and the question has to be asked as to were that place is going to be, a sovereign state or a vassal state of the American Empire. Will it be God save our Vassal Queen, long may she serve the American Empire with Loyality and Fidelity? Is the (UK) prepared to become Downstairs Servants of the Upstairs Masters? On August (20th) it will be time for the (UK) to give its answer to itself, Vassal Servant or Sovereign Nation, committed to the well being of its Commonweath Citizens, or servants of the American Empire. The (21st) Century is now here!
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