IS GREAT BRITAIN BECOMING IRRELEVANT AS A WORLD POWER?

…The British Parliament of the Past

Where does the British Empire fit in today’s global world?

The question about what Great Britain’s future role will be as a world power and international influence, that question continues to be asked in today’s international conversations.

To understand the question, one must look inside the empire’s current politics. 

Large numbers of Britons are telling the British pollsters that they will not be voting for the current controlling Conservative Party in this coming May’s general election.  But the voters also don’t like the Labor Party or the Liberal Democrats.  The Scots appear to be planning on voting for the Scottish National Party, which plans on reinvigorating its campaign for Scottish independence.  With all this internal discontent, the English voters are saying they might split the vote between the anti-European, anti-immigration, United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), or maybe even for the Greens.

As one national reporter wrote, “Nothing wrong with that in principle, but it’s hard to imagine how a four-or five-way split could produce a stable government, especially in a country that has been ruled by Labor or the Tories for most of the past century.”

Based on the current attitude of the British, it is an attitude that began back when Tony Blair was the PM.  It started when the British decided that the Iraq war had turned many in Britain off to the idea of ever cooperating with Americans again. Add the European recession, and that explains a lot of Britain’s doubts about dealing with anything that has to do with Europe.

At a recent London meeting, a room full of experts tried to review every future political possibility for the various British parties.  The expert’s conclusion: “Britain might take a radical step to the left, or it ‘might take a radical step to the right, or it might leave the European Union, or finally, it might break up altogether.”  It’s all as clear as mud.

In other words, not one expert could predict anything except that Britain will now be occupied by its own internal political arguments for a very long time.

All of this really didn’t become evident until Prime Minister Cameron declared he would support US airstrikes in Syria.  He called for a parliamentary vote for support, and he lost badly.  After he dropped that idea, which was a surprise to President Obama, Obama then also backed off from that approach in Syria.

In this great nation of the past, the political class is now consumed by its internal arguments over the constitutional status of Scotland.  It is also having issues regarding the events in Libya and anywhere in the Middle East, but especially in the Ukraine, which seems very far away.

But in Russia, Vladimir Putin is not letting the British back off from their position as a nuclear and conventional military power.  Or for being a staunch US ally, and of course, a long-time pillar of NATO.

Great Britain may currently be concerned about their internal issues, but Mr. Putin is now getting their attention by directing his Russian military jets to taunt and buzz British airspace. The Russian jets even cross into the paths of British passenger planes. 

 

Both the Islamic State (ISIL) and Putin want to destroy the global economic and political system in which the US and Great Britain have long thrived, while Russia has not.

Truly, the British are now acting as if they have lost their historic interest for being involved in any foreign policy.  But do the British really believe they will be better off in this world if they decide to no longer have any major international influence?

The hope today from the international community and the United Nations is that the British will come to their senses and start focusing again on being part of the global community.  But will their electorate decide to “get back in the saddle” as a member of the rest of the world…?

This will be an interesting issue to follow. 

It was during World War II, that the “changing of the guard” occurred and the United States became the super-power and Great Britain’s World Empire began to decline.  At the time, the British were still a big part of the international community as a world power.  Has the time come that Great Britain will be reduced as a world power as was the Roman Empire many centuries ago?

I guess only time will tell.

Copyright G.Ater  2015