Thoughts? The article says that Britain can’t annoy the US too much over this Iran war, because UK security is unfortunately completely dependent upon the US.
Starmer has to deploy what influence he has with the White House carefully. He must consider other strategic goals – the need to keep Trump onside in Ukraine, for example. And he must be mindful that Britain’s own military and intelligence capabilities are enmeshed with Pentagon systems.
As one [minister] puts it, Britain would be “massively exposed” if a capricious US administration decided it no longer wanted our friendship.
Perhaps the best way for the UK to stop being a vassal of the US is for the UK to join forces with its European allies. Europe together can surely create the capabilities needed to defend the continent.
If you join a club for your own interests, and the members of the club (including yourself) agree to appoint leadership for the club, which is renewed by elections every few years, I don’t think that means you become a vassal of the leadership of the club.
For example let’s say you’re in a band. The members of the band agree to have a manager, to handle certain tasks. That doesn’t mean the band members are vassals of the manager. The band members can replace the manager if they think the manager is doing a bad job.