Through my work in the unions I have known Denis MacShane for over 30 years – he is well informed, with an erudite, although possibly Eurocentric, view of the world. That is why I was not surprised by his recent assertion that the election for the French presidency mattered more to the UK than the election of the US president. Which I think is bizarre.
Our relationship with the United States is at the core of our defence and security policy. Contrary to assertions by some, that is not to say that we always agree with the US, but we recognise the essential nature of this relationship, whether we call it ‘special’ or not. That has been the position of all Labour governments since the war. It is based on shared history, language, interest and most importantly values and an understanding of the sheer global pre-eminence of the United States. Last year in Australia I addressed this issue:
‘It doesn’t mean that we should join the fashionable writing off of America’s position as the world’s superpower. A recent Economist map highlighted this by relating each state to the GDP of a major country. Texas was as big as Russia, California as big as Italy, Australia was equivalent to New York state. It’s true that the US declined from 50 per cent in 1945 to 23 per cent in 1990, but Europe showed a dramatic recovery during that period and the defeated powers Germany and Japan recovered. Was America less significant because of that? Since then the US has shown a further relative decline down to 20 per cent. But this is at a time of unprecedented growth in Asia. To lose three per cent of world GDP in these circumstances does not suggest a nation on the slide. The facts won’t stop the persistent snipers who will never forgive America for winning the Cold War. Furthermore US defence expenditure is more than the next 15 countries combined.’
President Obama also spoke to this in his State of the Union Address: ‘From Pakistan to Yemen, the Al Qaida operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can’t escape the reach of the United States of America.’ Interestingly enough under President Obama that reach has been increasing with new and expanded bases particularly across the Middle East and Asia. Obama summed it up towards the end of his State of the Union Address: ‘The coalitions we’ve built to secure nuclear materials, to the missions we’ve led against hunger and disease, from the blows we’ve dealt our enemies, to the enduring power of our moral example, America is back. Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Yes, the world is changing. No, we can’t control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs. And as long as I’m president, I intend to keep it that way.’