Airstrip One

Look for the links

"If America took on Europe\Russia\China\Iran then it could whupp their ass." This is probably not official Foreign Office policy, but it is probably the best approximation to the thinking behind our slavish loyalty towards the Yanks.

Now this also happens to be true, up to a point. If there was a mano-a-mano fight between America and anyone then the Yanks would win. But this does not mean that the world is therefore safe for global domination. The trick is not overwhelming them, the preponderance of force is a given (if wasting) commodity. What is most important is to keep them seperate and squabbling.

This is what the Yanks seem to be terrible at doing. Perhaps this is what every strong power can't do - look at us losing India - and it is declining powers such as Ottoman Turkey that specialise in dividing and ruling.

Some examples of this are with Europe. First they are being dovish on Iran's nuclear ambitions and then wanting to export arms to China.

In the next few years, at least the couple of decades before China sorts itself out it will be the anti-American alliances that will matter in geopolitics. The balance of power will, as it always has, reassert itself. You just need to look for the links.