If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Essential support for under 25s
Essential support for under 25s
Take a look around and enjoy reading the discussions. If you'd like to join in, it's really easy to register and then you'll be able to post. If you'd like to learn what this place is all about, head here.
Comments
But what exactly do we get out of it?
As pointed out, the last time British sovereign land was invaded, the US were nowhere to be seen.
And as for economic benefits, go and talk to the Scottish cashmere manufacturers. The European Union blocked the import of certain US bananas because of human rights issues, so what did the loving US do to its "special ally"? It blocked the import of Scottish cashmere and practically sent the entire industry bankrupt.
So much for that close and cuddly mutually-beneficial relationship, eh?
Well the US supplied us with Sidewinder missiles ensuirng we got air superiority. They supplied us with intelligence from decrypts and satellite information. They temporarily took over UK much of the UK naval committment to NATO.
They also offered us the use of an aircraft carrier, which for various reasons was turned by the UK.
After the war they prioritised us for the replacement of Chinooks.
This also needs to be seen in the context that for the US this wasn't a war between a state which was friendly to them and one which was hostile, but between two friendly states.
Given that people like dis would have us pull out of the EU in favour of the US...
I'm not Dis, so why should I defend his arguments? Personally I think we're stuck in the EU as trading bloc, for better or worse.
Britain and the US have had trade disagreements. By negotiating as part of the EU with the US and not on a one-on-one basis with the US we do not reap the benefits of the special relationship. However, the simple fact remains that the vast majority of trade between Britain and the US (and indeed, the EU and US) goes smoothly. Dismissing the evident economic benefits of the special relationship as you do because of rare trade disagreements is absurd. The US is the biggest investor in Britain and Britain the biggest investor in the US, the two-way trade between Britain and the US is the biggest between any two countries in the world.
Source.
- That said, various EU member states are also very important trading partners. Although it should be pointed out that Britain imports far more from EU members than it exports hence it would be in the interests of EU members to retain a free trade agreement with us. Meanwhile free from the shackles of EU membership Britain would have greater trading flexibility being free to consider trading agreements with other countries; perhaps look at joining NAFTA or developing ties with Asia-Pacific countries.
The EU in its present state is bad for Britain economically; there isn't an equal playing field when Spanish businesses for instance get billions in regional aid enabling them to undercut British firms. If you're Spanish or French the EU is wonderful of course; EU membership equals free money. But for Britain paying billions more into the EU than we get out nobody claiming to care about British interests can possibly support continued EU membership. (If anything you could argue that the main beneficiary of our EU membership besides the French and Spanish who we subsidise is the US which gets a friendly voice in the EU sharing her values).
Really.
You don`t think it had anything to do with CIA in-fighting (about,what else, drugs) involving a certain "Major Charles McKee" ?
Bogey man Osama was still a CIA/MI5 operative back then,so the web that has been weaved is very tangled.
But it's presented as such.