Airstrip One

A Possible Opportunity - 3rd February 2003, 23.42

From the present diplomatic configuration, it is clear that Britain will only avoid the European trap by constructing an alternative approach. The electorate is too wedded to a foreign policy of 'dependency' to support a clear strategy of complete independence of action for the British polity. At this point in time, the neoconservative Atlanticists, preaching free trade and a military alliance, provide a reasonable alternative to the European Union. Better to have more freedom with this than none at all under a United States of Europe. Such an orientation does not require signing up to the cultural civilisation adopted by the Anglospherists, a 'big picture' that many an empirical Brit will instinctively shy away from.

Doug Bandow of the National Review inveighs against the Euro, mentions the Atlantic Bridge (Liam Fox's thinktank), and provides some of the advantages that Britain may enjoy by looking westward. Bilateral alliances and free trade are far friendlier to national sovereignty than transnationalism.