Fair enough they’ve dug us out of the shit regarding world wars. (And made a few quid out of us for doing it)
What have they done since?
Not trolling just want to know if we are more specialler than other countries?

We speak English.

Maybe in the intelligence community, but everywhere else? Most yanks I know laugh when the ‘special relationship’ is mentioned.

We blindly follow them into wars of dubious legitimacy in return for a few photo ops between PM and President which makes the PM look more Statesmanlike and maybe a nice little earner for the PM after they retire.

They only every use the phrase on the rare occasion they need us, our leaders use it for popularity amongst us, most American’s have never heard of it, and would find it laughable if you brought it up.

International Relations is a ruthless, emotionless business with no room for sentiment, if they had any for us in the first place.

Convinced us to eat shit?

Falklands, Ronald Reagan.

(despite Al Haig’s best efforts to scupper things).

Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests

I reckon we should dump them and tell Europe it was all a big mistake and didn’t mean anything.

I’ve always been in favour of loosening ties with America and cosying up to Scandanavia. Up north they are our ancestors.

Come on Theresa, what are you waiting for, get over to trump tower flash your saggy …. Get your cat felt and Bob’s your uncle all of our country’s problems are solved.

I think Hugh Grant is best placed to answer:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ouyeycWk8[/video]

Well they didn’t really dig us out of the shit with world wars. We won the battle of Britain all on our lonesome with the help of the Poles 2 years before the Americans decided to rock up. If we left it at that then Hitler would have bee happy to leave us alone and deal with us as a separate nation in his new Nazi utopia. Hitler had some respect for Britain and Churchill and in many ways would have preferred to work with us rather than against us. It was us who made an enemy of him when we gave him the bird when he invaded Poland, and then decided to ry to liberate Europe. Churchill knew full well we couldn’t do it on our own but cracked on anyway and did all he could to drag the Americans into it.

In the end after Pearl Harbour the Americans knew they had to get involved that eventually war would come knocking on their door and they would struggle with a two pronged attack from Japan and Germany (Germany developing nukes, long range missiles and bombers – it was only a matter of time before he could mount attacks on US soil), so it was just as much for their own defence as much as ‘Uncle Sam stepping in and saving little old Britain’. Thank God they did step in though.

Anyway, we’ve always been more aligned to the US in our values and ideas of democracy and trade than the EU, which is undemocratic and protectionist. The whole ‘Special Relationship’ thing is a load of BS dragged out when it suits us and we want to portray a united front to the rest of the world. As long as we share the same values as the American people, despite who their President is, we’ll always have strong ties with them, or any other nation who share our values for that matter.

The us has had plenty of tariffs when it has suited them.

Come on Theresa, what are you waiting for, get over to trump tower flash your saggy …. Get your cat felt and Bob’s your uncle all of our country’s problems are solved.

for 100 years we have both wanted other peoples oil and been in competition with Russia

the rest is window dressing.

the EU, which is undemocratic and protectionist.

But ninfan thinks it’s neo-liberal.. so which is it?

we’ll always have strong ties with them, or any other nation who share our values for that matter.

So don’t those pesky Europeans share our values?

We think we’re “special”.
They don’t.
Unless by “special” you mean as in “olympics”

Makes me cringe every time I hear it. The UK is well and truly Americas English speaking bitch and bridge to Europe. No wonder they didn’t want us to leave the EU, it doesn’t suit their interests.

Very interesting the UK’s dealings in Egypt (Suez) and the breakup of Cyprus which America had a guiding hand in.

As for WW2 they got plenty out of it. The debt was only paid off when Tony Blair was in power and they still benefit from lend lease arrangements, with bases in the UK and it’s overseas territories.

Anyway, we’ve always been more aligned to the US in our values and ideas of democracy

I dont thin we were when we were at war wuth them and they were fighting for democracy. I think we had a wee bit of a difference of opinion on democracy at that point.

and trade than the EU, which is undemocratic and protectionist

. Given they just got a president who had less votes than their rival its somewhat bizarre to claim the EU is “undemocratic”. Given we have unelected lords and an unelected head of state its hard to see how we can lecture anyone on democracy and their are more states like that in Europe and that sort of thing is an anathema to the US.

As for protectionism that is just another poorly made point that serves only to illustrate your views on the EU rather than reality.

The “special relationship” is nonsense we say it more than them and they say the same to France, who gave them the statue of liberty, as they say to us.

They probably like us as we always back them but beyond that i dont think they value us more than any other country that will be their poodle/ do as they say.

Military and intelligence there is a lot of alignment. The UK gives the USA a much bigger global reach with regards military and intelligence capabilities. Also financial, and international standards share quite a bit. I’m sure people have other examples.

I do think we have more in common than with some of the EU lot, but you should always remember each country is out for themselves and ‘special’ relationships can be ignored or used as required / necessary.

Anyway, we’ve always been more aligned to the US in our values and ideas of democracy and trade than the EU, which is undemocratic and protectionist.[/I]

Ah, when you say ‘aligned’ to the US in ideas of trade I guess you mean the approach to trade that we also followed until losing the Empire, ‘protectionist’…

Also remember that before WW2 the most expected large-scale war was between the British Empire and the USA, google “war plan red”.

wobbliscott – Member

It was us who made an enemy of him when we gave him the bird when he invaded Poland, and then decided to ry to liberate Europe. Churchill knew full well we couldn’t do it on our own but cracked on anyway

Interesting view of history. So if not Poland how much of Europe should we have let Hitler take before doing anything?

So are you saying the correct course for Churchill would have been to surrender/negotiate leaving Hitler ruling Europe. As Stalin discovered having a pact with Hitler was no route to peace.

I’d actually like the special relationship Ireland has. Our pubs all over the USA and clearing US immigration in Dublin before the long haul flight not after.

War plan red wasn’t too much more than a interesting hypothetical exercise. They also had similar plans for China and other countries.

The special relationship like any other had its ups and downs and had nearly resulted in divorce at times. Be interesting to see if Trump is warmer to it than Obama has been.

The special relationship between Merica & BritLand will be maintained.

Now BritLand will be right in front of the queue rather than at the back of the queue …

Well they didn’t really dig us out of the shit with world wars.

😆

and trade than the EU, which is undemocratic and protectionist

and

Now BritLand will be right in front of the queue rather than at the back of the queue …

You’ll be screaming for protection by the time the yanks “give us” a trade deal. Not that Trump is actually going to follow through on anything he said of course.

El-bent – Member
You’ll be screaming for protection by the time the yanks “give us” a trade deal. Not that Trump is actually going to follow through on anything he said of course.

Let’s see if the STW massive will get it right this time with their combined brain juice compare to my zombie maggot brain cell. 😆

I wonder if they get arse on they the UK govt will send everyone home from the CIA special listening stations at menwith hill

Well, we are doing pretty well pointing out that the brexit brigade still don’t have a clue on how to dig themselves out of a mess of their own making. Five months of nothing so far…

El-bent – Member
Well, we are doing pretty well pointing out that the brexit brigade still don’t have a clue on how to dig themselves out of a mess of their own making. Five months of nothing so far…

Nothing of what? Sky fall? 😆

I thing putting your tounge between your teeth and bottom lip and saying “special relationship” pretty much sums up the future of this relationship.

Interested to see how Iran react when Putin and Trump go bear wresting in the woods.

IRC – if we were happy to sit back and watch Hitler march across Europe then deal with him after he’d finished then yes we’d have been safe, for a while at least, but we were not like that of course. But it was us that declared war on Germany once they invaded Poland, not the other way around – it is up for debate amongst historians if Britain was ever on Hitlers list at all. But my point being that the Americans did not save us ie. Britain/UK from Hitler. We did that ourselves. The Americans and the Allies liberated Europe 4 years after the Battle of Britain was won.

We may be at the back of the queue for a trade deal with the US, so what. In the meantime we’ll just trade with the US on the same terms as the vast majority of the rest of the world, including the EU. And we can do that until such time as they get around to us to negotiate a separate trade deal. In the meantime there is the rest of the world to go at. The big prizes regrading trade is not the EU or the US, they are yesterday’s economies, it is the far east: China, India and Asia Pacific. The growth rates there are more than double that of the older established economies of the US and EU. It is only a matter of time before China and India overtake the US and EU as larger economies, it is inevitable. They are modern high tech economies with countries with a young, growing, educated and rich population who are hungry to trade and look upon the UK favourably. They are the future for the trade with an independent UK. Fine, let us sit at the back of the queue for a trade deal with the US. We don’t need to ask them for favours. After Obama’s comments it is telling however just how little the US does value their relationship with the UK, but lets not get upset about it, accept it and move on. We can’t influence it.

They only every use the phrase on the rare occasion they need us, our leaders use it for popularity amongst us, most American’s have never heard of it, and would find it laughable if you brought it up

Most Americans would struggle to find the UK on a map of the world; having said that, I understand that many Americans struggle to find their own country on a map of the world!
If they think of us at all, it’s as some quaint little theme park laid on just for them to visit and gawp at.
So very insular, the LA Times newspaper is heavy enough that if you opened the door just as the paperboy lobbed it at your front garden and it hit you, you’d end up in A&E, but it has two whole pages of world news, and scarcely more than that about anything outside of California.

slowoldman – Member
I’ve always been in favour of loosening ties with America and cosying up to Scandanavia. Up north they are our ancestors.

Yeah, after us Southerners kicked their asses at Eddington, and sent them back to Mercia with their tails between their legs. 😉
Of course, they then got their own back by learning French, getting funny haircuts and killing our King at Hastings. 😐

tom200 – Member
I thing putting your tounge between your teeth and bottom lip and saying “special relationship” pretty much sums up the future of this relationship.

Or you can use the famous Presidential Elect quote …

Interested to see how Iran react when Putin and Trump go bear wresting in the woods.

They will all be drinking tea or Shiraz if the latter is permitted by the Ayatollah.

Wobbliscott your analysis fails to take into account that Britain was also fighting Japan in Asia. Plus the Yanks provided other support to Britain prior to committing troops. I think it is a long stretch to say we saved ourselves the world would have looked very, very different without US involvement.

Of course, 92pc of German Casualties were on the Eastern Front.

Just saying dragon, not an analysis, just a timeline of a sequence of events. Our arse was on the line in 1939 after picking a fight we knew we might not be able to win We received valuable assistance form many countries including the US, but it was our airmen that did the business along with a number of Polish and Canadian squadrons. I can’t imagine if it all went tits up they would have come rushing. They were hellbent on staying out of the European affairs back then. Not meant to be a criticism as such, easy to make judgements after the event, but I do cringe somewhat when it is stated the American’s ‘saved’ us, like we were some pathetic nation on our knees. So even back then any ‘Special Relationship’ was as one sided as it is today.

I do cringe somewhat when it is stated the American’s ‘saved’ us, like we were some pathetic nation on our knees. So even back then any ‘Special Relationship’ was as one sided as it is today.

It is likely that without American aid through Lend Lease(before they entered the war) the UK would have starved due to the rate that merchant ships were being sunk by U boats.

http://uboat.net/allies/documents/lend-lease.htm