America and its British lapdog

Finian Cunningham Correspondent
In a brazen show of bringing-to-heel in their special relationship, American political and Pentagon chiefs are openly rebuking the British government to maintain its huge military spend on the NATO alliance — to the possible detriment of already withering public services in austerity-clobbered Britain. The

imposition by Washington raises serious questions about the nature of democracy in Britain — the self-proclaimed Mother of all Parliaments.

Outlandish claims of Russian aggression and sinister global ambitions of Vladimir Putin are being invoked to justify what is otherwise an extraordinary US infringement of Britain’s democratic rights.

The American intrusion into British affairs is in the run-up to Britain’s parliamentary elections in May, when five years of relentless economic austerity under the incumbent Conservative-Liberal coalition are being put to the electoral test.

US President Barack Obama has, according to the pro-Tory Daily Telegraph, personally warned British premier David Cameron that any cuts in Britain’s current military budget — 2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — will set a bad example for other European allies and will put the future of NATO at risk.

Obama reportedly told Cameron if Britain doesn’t spend 2 per cent on defence, then no one in Europe will.

Washington’s intense lobbying is being aided by senior members within the British military establishment, who are also warning Cameron’s government over possible downsizing of Britain’s armed forces and weapons procurement.

In order to pep up their objective, Russia is being painted as a global threat to security, along with the Islamic State terror group, and thus providing justification for the continued spending of some $50 billion a year by Britain on its military budget.

The denigration of Russia in such a manner without the slightest evidence is a gross breach of diplomatic relations and could constitute an act of aggression against Moscow.

Sir Peter Wall, the former commander of British armed forces, and ex-MI6 boss Sir John Sawers, have both explicitly cited Russian aggression as a top priority for why spending on Britain’s huge military budget must not be lowered.

Former Defence Secretary Liam Fox claimed that the British public expects their government to ensure the security of Britain as a first commitment.

How a rich politician can assert on the views of impoverished workers, unemployed or sick Britons is anyone’s guess.

Nevertheless, it should be noted how the propaganda claims of the British establishment against Russia over the Ukraine crisis are inculcated into public consciousness as fact and therefore the dubious premise must be dealt with as a matter of unquestioned urgency, without permitting even a cursory public debate on the veracity of such tendentious claims.

The latest figure to add his voice to the Anglo-American no-cuts chorus is US General Raymond Odierno.

The Chief of Staff member said any decrease in Britain’s military spending will diminish British armed forces to the role of fighting as brigades inside American formations rather than being deployed as larger divisions alongside US counterparts, as they have in the past.

Thus Odierno seems to be using humiliation as a tactic to browbeat Britain into maintaining its military budget — already one of the highest in Europe and second highest in NATO after the US.

The American General reiterated that the US needs Britain as a partner to confront the alleged threat of Russia and Islamic terrorism.

“It is about having a partner that has very close values and the same goals as we do,” said Odierno, with an odious touch of euphemism considering the illegal destruction that these two “partners” have inflicted on Afghanistan, Iraq and several other countries in their fraudulent pursuit of “war on terror”.

Joining the Anglo-American chorus are former NATO secretary generals Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jaap de Hoop Scheffen, who are also exhorting Britain not to pare its military outlay.

Washington and London have routinely regaled each other with compliments about their “special relationship” in the decades since the Second World War.

The unspoken reality of that grandiloquent partnership is the systemic link between the City of London and Wall Street as being central to the maintenance of global finance capitalism — an economic system that has become destructively predatory on the whole planet. — SCF.

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