Sites Holmquist trys, and often fails, to go no more than a couple of days without visiting (some of which Holmquist regularly swipes links from without attribution)
Brendan O'Neill is critical of those who see British Prime Minister Tony Blair as merely a lackey of Uncle Sam:
This characterisation lets Blair off the hook, suggesting that he is merely being led astray by evil Bush rather than really wanting to intervene in Iraq - as if we should forgive him for he knows not what he does.
The poodle-accusers seriously underestimate Blair's desire to jump on the post-11 September bandwagon and to join the 'crusade against evil' - in other words, to use foreign intervention abroad to boost his standing at home. Like the Bush administration, Blair sees opportunities in Iraq - opportunities to restate his political and moral authority.
O'Neill is right on points but misses the larger issue of how Blair, however much he might want to pushing countries like Iraq around, isn't capable of doing so on his own. For all intents and purposes, the only way he or any other leader of Great Britain can be a player in the world is by hitching a wagon to the United States. This might not be a good thing but it is reality.
O'Neill goes on to argue that viewing Blair as merely subservient allows him to be viewed as being a good influence on Bush and thus adds support to the war on terror. O'Neill speculates that the effect on Blair is that it "boosts his authority."
Missing here is an understanding that Blair is powerless to prevent the U.S. from charting any course it wants. The authority that Blair has or doesn't have is irrelevant to Bush and his sucessors do. posted by micah holmquist at 9/05/2002 11:19:00 AM
