BREXIT AND REVITALIZING THE COMMONWEALTH: THE USA AS ASSOCIATE MEMBER?
In
the aftermath of the BREXIT vote, I began to argue in blogs and in
various interviews, that the next step geopolitically for Great Britain
would be to play the soft power card, in the form of revivifying the
British Commonwealth of nations. My reasons for thinking this was in the
cards were various, and spread out over several blogs and interviews.
Here were some of those reasons: (1) elements of the British deep state,
including apparently the Queen herself, were increasingly disappointed
not only with the EU and the loss of national sovereignty, but with the
unipolar and multicultural (read, Gramscian Marxist) direction things
were going; (2) a significant segment of the British population was fed
up with the growing Islamicization of Britain; and (3) Britain was
pursuing, independently of the EU, it's own relationship and trading
policy with China, hosting the state visit of Mr. Xi Jinping to that
country, and joining, as a member of the board, China's Asia
Infrastructure Investment Bank. Finally, (4) Britain continued to be
alarmed at the growing power and influence of Russia, in particular
Russia speaking openly about the West abandoning its core cultural
principles and appealing directly to those elements in the West with
decidedly traditional cultural sympathies. Russia was playing the soft
power card, and playing it well.
In
this context, I was arguing that the United Kingdom had certain unique
advantages - all of them cultural - that the European Union, firmly
under Germany's thumb, did not: Britain had dramatically influenced the
expansion of an English-speaking culture, with English institutions,
concepts of jurisprudence, and so on, over a vast area of the globe.
Britain could, I argued, if it played its cards right, play that soft
power card and create an immense bloc of economic and cultural
interests. But this would be impossible under the aegis of the
globaloney-multicultural-unipolar philosophy. The way to do this would
be to stress the cultural heritage and institutions, and the British
Commonwealth was ready-to-hand.
This
last week, a number of regular readers of this website, particularly in
the United Kingdom, shared an article which appears to confirm this
analysis and prediction, and moreover, to do so in a very astonishing
way:
While
this article is fairly short, the first four paragraphs contain a
number of bombshells that appear to support my arguments from months
ago, rather substantially:
The
United States could eventually become an "associate member" of the
Commonwealth, according to plans being drawn up by the Royal
Commonwealth Society.
The move, which is said to have the backing of the Queen, is believed to have come about because of US President Donald Trump’s love of Britain and the Royal Family.
With
the UK making plans to leave the European Union (EU) officials are keen
to build up international relations through the Commonwealth in an
number of areas, including trade.
Director
of the Royal Commonwealth Society Michael Lake told The Telegraph: "The
UK rather left this treasure in the attic, and forgot about it because
people were so glued to Brussels.” (Emphasis added)
I
cannot help but think that since this plan "is said to have the backing
of the Queen", that it may have been in the works for some time, since
we all recall the story from last year, prior to the BREXIT referendum,
that the Queen had invited Mr. Cameron's vice-premier to the palace for
tea and dinner, during which the Queen allegedly asked him is he could
name three incontestable benefits Britain was reaping from the EU. The
message was clear: the Queen was casting a skeptical eye on the whole
business.
There
was another wrinkle that seldom gets mentioned: Germany's and France's
(i.e., Merkel's and Hollande's) plans for a trans-European military.
While no one was saying it, everyone was at least thinking it: a
trans-European military would be as much under Berlin's thumb as the
other areas and institutions of the E.U. were and are. For Britain, this
of course brought back "memories." And this wrinkle I suspect is also
at work behind the current willingness of the Royal Commonwealth Society
not only to cast its attentions to the Commonwealth, but to America as
an "associate member," for the article makes it clear that "officials
are keen to build up international relations through the Commonwealth in
an(sic) number of areas, including trade." One of those areas is, of
course, defense and security. With NATO's future in doubt, watch for the
Commonwealth to become the focus of British security policy, in
conjunction with other Commonwealth members and proposed "Associate",
the USA.
One key area here is trade,
and here the Commonwealth affords Britain an opportunity that, again,
the continental powers do not have, for the institutions of British law,
in one form or another, are common to all Commonwealth countries, and
additionally, form the basis of American law. This allows a unique "jump
starting" position for trade deals. Complex trade agreements with
countries with legal systems based outside of the history and development of British law do not have to be negotiated.
If
indeed Ms. Le Pen wins her election bid in France, this will only
exacerbate the crack-up of the E.U., and put tremendous pressure on
Germany to re-arm independently. Britain, however, can draw on a history
of mutual economic and security arrangements with the Commonwealth and
the USA. And if Ms. Le Pen wins, watch for some interesting bi-lateral
agreements to be made... think Edward VII here...
For the moment, it looks as if John Bull intends to play the soft power card, and so far, it appears to be playing it well.
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