An Irish Response to US Press Release #28

Day 585, 18:48 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Brian Boru

This is a response to the supposed successes of the Fortis venture claimed by the White House Press Secretary in the recent White House Press Release.

First of all, may I congratulate all the new American Congressmen recently elected.
I hope they will lead the US effectively and without malice to other nations.

Now onto my main point:
The attempt by the United States to create an alliance which they dominate can be considered nothing but a massive diplomatic failure, contrary to this press statement. The United Kingdom has swung massively in favour of PEACE, the United States' prestige has been severely damaged, precisely the opposite effect that was intended, and the chance to create a counterbalance to PEACE has been lost for the near-future.

This can be attributed to several factors that the American leadership seems unaware of, or if they are aware of them, they have chosen to ignore them in an attempt to increase US prestige.

The first of these is severe, and that is the decision to have weighted voting. Admittedly, this is not only the US's dilemma, the Spanish were keen for it as well. However, as the US was the driving force behind the alliance in the first place, a larger proportion of fault must be attributed to the US accordingly. No matter how much justification the American administration gives for this idea, it is at best off-putting, and at worst, extremely repulsive. Dáil Éireann (Irish Congress) voted unanimously against joining the alliance, and the vast majority of those who voted stated that weighted voting was the primary reason for their rejection. There are strong indications that weighted voting was also the primary reason behind the British rejection of Fortis. The extreme insistence of the American government on weighted voting is perhaps the most direct factor that was not considered.

The idea of weighted voting also shows a complete disregard on the part of the American government to take the national circumstances of the candidate countries into account. In terms of Ireland, Irish neutrality and traditional Irish resistance to threats to sovereignty were not taken into account. Ireland is admittedly the less important of the problems in this area.

The actions of the American government with regard to treatment of the British is shocking, even for an eIrish Republican such as myself. The British, with a long history of imperialism and imperial pride in reality, being told at the highest level of diplomacy that their country and their ideas are inferior, and so they are less deserving of an equal say? There was no way in hell you were going to get them to cooperate without a Herculean effort by you, and even then it was a stretch.

That effort simply did not materialise. Instead, we have the American president noting that Ireland is a loyal ally, but that he could not say the same about Britain. Nor did the American State Secretary attempt to reconcile the two countries in any real way. Such is the extent of the damage that even a high ranking member of the British government admitted publicly in the Irish IRC that the certain members of the American government are anti-British.

Which leads me to my final point on the oversights of the American administration.
All of this might be forgivable in the context of a stable, multi-polar international climate, but the backdrop of this farce was far darker than that.
It is inevitable that PEACE would act upon the failings of the American administration. They found the UK increasingly isolated by the actions of the American administration, and they extended an olive branch. PEACE has never really harmed the UK, and the British have had good relations with several PEACE countries. It is absolutely absurd to insist upon weighted voting when PEACE were offering an equal say, despite their already massive size.

I have written this article in very stern terms as it is of paramount importance that the US understands that degrading relations with the UK is firmly rooted in its own government's actions, and that Ireland has a passive defensive alliance in place with the UK under the Raleigh Treaty. We are effectively joined at the hip with the British in terms of defence. Bad US-UK relations has serious consequences for both Anglo-Irish relations and American-Irish relations, and brings us into uncertain territory that would be detrimental for all parties involved. I must also point out that it is extremely unlikely that Ireland will ever join PEACE.

The glossing over of these problems by the Press Secretary isn't a wise move.