What's in It for Blair???

[Jeet Heer]

Blair's policy has been in keeping with British policy throughout the 20th
century to shore up his country's global position via a tight alliance with
the United States. Back in better days, Christopher Hitchens wrote a superb
book on this topic (Blood, Class and Nostalgia). The psychology of the
"special relationship" is interesting.

 In the twentieth century, as Britain was increasingly weakened by two World
Wars, the locus of imperial ambition shifted from London to Washington.
"These Americans represent the new Roman Empire and we Britons, like the
Greeks of old must teach them how to make it go," Tory Prime Minister Harold
Macmillan once said. Like the Greeks of the previous century, Britons like
Macmillan thought that their global position would be enhanced even as
junior partners in a very large empire.

 To see yourself as an advisor to someone else's empire requires a curious
combination of pride (in your own talents) and self-abnegation (in your
national powers). On another occasion, Macmillan compared Britain to "the
Greek slaves" who "ran the operations of the Empire Claudius."

----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 9:18 AM
Subject: Re: What's in It for Blair???


> Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
> >What's in it for Blair???
>
> The chance to play imperialist, to get taken seriously by The Boss,
> for the leader of a second-tier country to appear like a major player
> on the world stage?
>
> Doug