The US needs the UK
Sir: David Howell is certainly correct (Letters, 1 December) in pointing to the massive shift of wealth to Asia and oil producers, a devel- opment to which I have repeatedly called attention in my columns for the Sunday Times, most recently this past week. But that, so far, has little to do with my contention that the maintenance of world order remains the responsibility of the United States, a responsi- bility that can best be discharged with Britain at its side. Yes, Britain should pursue other relationships that a changing world makes useful to it. But Gordon Brown's deliberate snubbing of the United States when he met with President Bush in Washington, and his decision to stick a finger in America's eye by appointing Mark Malloch Brown, have led to the virtual cessation of political contacts between the UK and the US. Whatever is going on in the world of finance, that under- mining of the special relationship surely furthers neither British nor American inter- ests. Worse still, it is adding to pressures on America to lay down its heavy burdens, and retreat from a world in which it is the one power without which little progress can be made on issues ranging from global warming to the fight against international terrorism. Irwin Stelzer London WC2
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