Airstrip One

Please Lord, don't make us Swiss

Some response from Christopher Montgomery on my disagreement with him. I think that this deserves to be put on the main web log, and not kept relegated to the comments section.

My problem with British foreign policy is our permanent state of tutelage to the Americans. This is not a fact, but a state of mind. Therefore to alter it, you have to alter the mental landscape of those involved in British foreign policy.

To desist from this practice - being a voluntary US protectorate - we can, of course, try the 'Switzerland' route, and opt out of having a foreign policy. Not only do I not think that this is in our best interests, I also think that it won't work. In other words, it is precisely fear of being reduced [sic] to the state being Swiss that prompts our foreign policy elite to solve the problem by adhering to superpower patrons.

To successfully entrench our independce, we have to convince our rulers that it is feasible; this, it seems to me, is best achieved by building alliances to throw off our cousins. It also, further, seems to me to be a debt we have to pay to others, to help them throw off the US too, as they came freely to our aid when we needed them.