[tinfoilman]

I dont get why people keep thinking the UK has a special relationship with the US anymore

“There’s nothing special about Britain,” the US state department official said. “You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment.”

Obama "We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people."

England and the US nothing special anymore.

[ptaipale]

> Obama "We don’t have a stronger friend and stronger ally than Nicolas Sarkozy, and the French people."

That is the kind of thing presidents say in speeches. It just means "I want to be polite to you". It's diplomacy, don't take it literally.

[logfromblammo]

France and the U.S. also have a special relationship.

France was technically the first ally of the U.S. That alliance has been pretty stable, except under the following circumstances:

  - France or the U.S. is having a civil war.
  - France and Britain are at war.
  - France is under foreign occupation.

That's not just diplomacy. France and the U.S. are very consistently on the same side of international issues, and when exceptions occur, it is usually when the U.S. has a conservative government while France has a liberal one, and there is little more than pro forma dissent, as one side or the other remains neutral rather than truly oppose.

If NATO did not exist, France would be one of the few non-Commonwealth nations for whom the U.S. would declare an actual, full-engagement war to defend, without even much argument from the voting public--unless it was the UK attacking it, obviously.

The full "special" list is probably Canada, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel.

[dragonwriter]

The Suez Crisis indicates that you have omitted at least one circumstance that should be mentioned...

[balabaster]

and equally... every other "friend" and "ally" are as strong as France. It's meaningless filler, it doesn't mean that the French are their strongest friends and allies... just that nobody is more of a friend and ally. It's like a hat tip to one of your friends, but nothing more. Even if you do take this statement literally, it's meaningless.

[ptaipale]

I don't think it's entirely meaningless. As said, it intends to be polite. Its meaning just isn't the face value.

[Someone1234]

Considering how much of the NSA's workload GCHQ do (as a legal loophole to spy on American citizens) the relationship is definitely unique. I mean it is one thing to have diplomatic relations with 190+ countries, it is another thing entirely to trust them with your country's secrets as the US does.

[balabaster]

Along with the other of the Five Eyes (New Zealand, Australia, Canada) who are all in cahoots with one another... behind closed doors... or not since Snowden gave us all the red pill.

[cygx]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes

[venomsnake]

> I dont get why people keep thinking the UK has a special relationship with the US anymore

Probably because fucking Henry Kissinger insisted it exists (Diplomacy, chapters for post WWII). And he is a guy that knows something about US foreign policy.

[arethuza]

"I dont get why people keep thinking the UK has a special relationship with the US anymore"

I can't say I am a fan of the "special relationship" (I'm in the UK) - but worth noting that I don't think the US sells Trident missile technology to anyone else? UK warhead designs are probably US based as well although we do manufacture them ourselves.

[Crito]

My understanding is that the US was not particularly open with nuclear technology initially. The UK developed fission bombs and designed thermonuclear bombs more or less independently, demonstrating that they had done that to the Americans, and the Americans then became more open to cooperation.

The US even allowed the UK to test some of their bombs on American soil, in Nevada. (The UK also tested nuclear bombs in Australia. They don't have much wide-open desert of their own).

[jamespo]

the ties between the NSA & GCHQ state otherwise

[gadders]

I get the impression it's more important to Republicans than Democrats.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

It's more important to the UK than to the US.

[gadders]

Natch.