Obama: keep your mucky paws out of our business

When I was but a lad I believed that myth created by Winston Churchill that Britain and the U.S.A enjoyed a "special relationship". But as I matured I began to realize the less palatable truth, perhaps better expressed by George Bernard Shaw, namely that Britain and the US are two countries separated by a common language.

In President Obama's case it first came to light in 2010, following the lamentable oilspill in the Gulf of Mexico. It rapidly became apparent that Obama used every opportunity to label the culprits British Petroleum, reminding the Americans and the world that we were responsible for despoiling their beloved country. This despite the fact that much of the work on that oil rig had been contracted out to American companies, and that therefore we all, as it were, had oil on our hands.

Then last week he took it upon himself to upbraid us, and the French under Sarkozy, for being more than partly responsible for the murderous chaos that resulted following the fall of Gaddafi. In making that assertion he was doubtless correct in large part, though I couldn't help thinking of America's terrible responsibility in a whole range of countries where they have perceived an interest: in Chile, where they actively supported fascist Pinochet in his pogroms against anyone who disagreed with him, in Nicaragua, where they supported fascist Somoza against the will of the people ("Sure, he's a sonofabitch" said their Secretary of State Dean Rusk at the time, "But he's our sonofabitch") through Vietnam, Indonesia and so on and so on. What of Iraq after the first Gulf War in 1991, when George Bush Snr encouraged the Kurds and Marsh Arabs to rise up against Saddam, then stood idly by while those peoples were oppressed and murdered, without even lifting a finger to help them. Or the second Gulf War, when American troops brushed aside the Republican guard, but left Baghdad to the mercy of the looters and kidnappers. Or when the mercenaries of the Blackwater group ran riot in the city of Fallujah in 2007, killing anyone they pleased more or less at random, with the full support of the highest levels of command in America. Even today America under Obama offers its succour to the fascist Israeli government to deal with the Palestinian peoples as it pleases- and it pleases them to bully, oppress and murder whoever they don't like the look of- literally.

So, prez, be careful before you start dissing your allies- it may come back to bite you some day. I hear you are coming here soon to try to persuade us to stay in the EU- a mission which is likely to have the opposite effect from the noble one you intended. British people don't take kindly to foreigners telling us how to run our affairs, just as you wouldn't have much truck with some Brit going over there and telling you your gun laws are insanity. Perhaps I should remind you of the words of Khalil Gibran:
Do not walk ahead of me; I may not wish to follow
Do not walk behind me; I may not wish to lead
Walk beside me, and be my friend