Europe or America? Is Britain just too cozy with the U.S.?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's navy is in hot water for allegedly floating around in off-limits, Iranian-controlled territorial waters; that supposed transgression finds the United Kingdom's unpopular political leader apparently savoring an opportunity to look tough in the face of insistence by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government that the British ships' violation of its border at sea has justified its dentention of 15 sailors from the vessels.Blair's unexpected - but necessary - focus on Iran and the unfolding diplomatic contretemps notwithstanding, shouldn't Britain be paying more attention in general to Europe, and less attention to the U.S.?
"After the U.S. has suffered [in Iraq] possibly the most humiliating defeat in its history," should or must Britain "continue to look to the U.S. for military savvy and moral enlightenment"? He adds: "What about working more closely with Europe, some of us ask...." But he notes that British believers in the U.K.-U.S. "special relationship" , the "Atlanticists" scoff at that notion. Instead, "four years ago, [Blair] tossed his head, turned his back on Europe and stood shoulder to shoulder with Uncle Sam."
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