freedom costs money

December/2003

Whilst the mainstream media continues to portray us as the United States’ most precious ally it is time we began to view our partnership in crime in the correct light. Essentially, Britain is just another state that is having its sovereignty breached by the United States’ designs for global preponderance…………

As pally as Dubya and Blair may seem, the UK government must surely know that it is little more than a stooge to the Bush administration. If Blair truly believed he could exert control over international developments by continually cozying up to the Americans he has been naïve to say the least. By alienating France and Germany and taking a lead from Washington the Blair government have done nothing more than make Britain a focus for fundamentalist hostilities. In order to gain a realistic view of how Britain is perceived stateside by the central federal government you only have to examine the fact that an extradition treaty that was concluded last year with the United States allows the Americans to extract British nationals without presenting evidence before a court. Does Britain have the same right in the US? Dream on!

From the age of 11 I grew up in a place called Nidderdale which is just outside Harrogate. I lived for a number of years in a village called Darley which is situated very near to one of the biggest spy bases on the planet. Menwith Hill is difficult to miss due to the massive ‘golf balls’ that become the main focus of the breathtaking scenery in an area that has been designated an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’. Does Britain have big spy bases in America subsidised by the US taxpayer? I think not somehow. Not only do the Americans at Menwith Hill allegedly spy on the locals, they are said to spy on the whole of Europe and the world at large. In fact Menwith Hill arguably made the sleepy little village I lived in pretty close to being number one on the nuclear hit list. “Don’t be silly” I hear you say, “the cold war was over a long time ago.” Well if this is true, and Menwith Hill was supposedly built in response to the Russian nuclear threat, why is it still up and running and growing steadily bigger than it ever has been? Because the communist threat was used much in the same way as the purpose for which the terrorist threat is now being wielded. In short, as a means of consolidating and increasing US power. Menwith Hill basically sums up well the predicament Britain finds herself in with regards to America’s global designs. She is unable to extricate herself from a one sided relationship with a superpower who continues to jeopardise the safety of the world at large.

It is time to stand firm with European powers such as France and Germany within the framework of greater European unity so US power can be curtailed. Do not be taken in by the views which hold concurrency in the mainstream press. Attacks on the European Union have mainly been sustained by papers owned by Conrad Black and Rupert Murdoch whose interests are largely defined in the context of conglomerates based in North America rather than Britain and mainland Europe. It is thus no wonder they wish to drag us away from Europe and hand us on a platter to the US.

WILLIAM GRAY

(Anyone interested in the subject matter discussed in this piece will, in my humble opinion, find they can arrive at a better understanding of the international political system if they read work by Chomsky Pilger and Monbiot, or simply log onto ZNet)