Iranian protesters illegally broke into two British Embassy compounds in Tehran today as police stood by idly, and the attack was broadcast live on Iranian television. It is unclear as yet whether British diplomatic personnel were harmed or taken hostage. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported that six British officials had been taken hostage but withdrew the story from its website minutes later without explanation. Iran’s rogue regime once again has exhibited a flagrant defiance of international law by failing to protect the embassy compounds, and it undoubtedly orchestrated the …
American commentators are beginning to react to a British announcement of a modest increase in defense spending. Any increase is welcome, but there is unfortunately a good deal less to this increase than meets the eye. Start with the amount of the increase, which has been reported in the U.S. as being 30 billion pounds. The correct figure is actually 3 billion pounds (or about 5 billion dollars). That increase will kick in only after 2015, after the next Spending Review, and will be spread over a five-year period. It …
In 2007, the director general of Britain’s internal security service described al-Qaeda and its associated groups as, “the main national security threat that we face today.” Revelations that al-Qaeda linked terrorists planned to carry out Mumbai-style attacks in Germany, France and Britain once again underscores this fact. The capture and interrogation of a German national returning to Europe from a Pakistani training camp revealed a fledgling plan to terrorize European cities through murderous shooting sprees. Through a series of attacks and attempted attacks, Islamist extremists have declared war on Europe …
In an odd reversal, President Obama went all out to welcome Britain’s newly elected conservative Prime Minister David Cameron Tuesday at the White House—this, after getting off to a terrible start last year with Cameron’s Labor Party predecessor Gordon Brown. Whereas Brown was humiliated by the extremely low-key reception accorded him by the new Obama Administration in March of 2009—a reception which did not even include a proper press conference—Prime Minister Cameron got the full court press, as well as superlative praise for the “Special Relationship” from President Obama. Maybe …
In the latest issue of The Economist, a correspondent – Dewi Williams, a senior lecturer in European law at Staffordshire University – writes in to complain about the unfairness of the British dislike of the European Union. Williams argues that the reason why the EU is unpopular in Britain is because the EU hasn’t done enough to promote itself, and the benefits of EU membership. It’s important to point out, first, that Williams is calling for the use of British money to fund EU propaganda aimed at the British themselves. …
Back in March I wrote a piece condemning Hillary Clinton’s foolish decision to side with Argentina’s calls for negotiations over the sovereignty of the Falklands. Three months on, she’s done it again. As Damien McElroy reported, the United States joined with the Organisation of American States (OAS) in an unanimously passed voice vote resolution earlier this week calling for negotiations between London and Buenos Aires, a position which is completely unacceptable to Great Britain. The United States should have firmly rejected the resolution as an affront to its closest ally, …
The results of the UK elections and the new coalition government that has resulted have sparked much commentary and debate. But few Americans actually understand how the British election system works. In this week’s Heritage in Focus podcast, Ted Bromund, senior research fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, explains how Britain’s election and government-formation system differs from America’s, and what this year’s results mean to the special relationship between our two countries. Listen to Heritage in Focus: Ted Bromund on the UK Elections here.
Possession of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands in the South Atlantic is again being disputed. The United Kingdom’s 180-year control over the islands and the will of its English-speaking inhabitants as well as the sacrifice of British blood and treasure that reversed the 1982 Argentine aggression give the UK clear possession of the islands. Nonetheless, Argentina rejects what it calls “a colonial enclave.” Last year, it laid claim to vast amount of the South American continental shelf. The current bone of contention involves oil. Exploration begun by British firms this month will …
Although the feckless spending of successive Labour Governments has resulted in massive decline for Britain, there is one thing that Gordon Brown got right on the economics front: he denied Tony Blair’s plans to take Britain into the single European currency. Launched in 1999, the Euro has been the bedrock of European elites’ dream for a United States of Europe. And there’s the rub: founding a major economic program on the basis of a supranational political dream meant there was surely trouble ahead. Nowhere is this more visible than in …
Member of the European Parliament Daniel Hannan came to Heritage today to remind Americans why and how to avoid Europe’s mistakes. On March 24, 2009, Daniel Hannan became an overnight internet sensation when a YouTube recording of his three-minute speech responding to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s remarks before the European Parliament went viral. As the most viewed video for two days running and with over 2.4 million views to date, Dan Hannan’s speech opposing higher public spending, tax increases and record borrowing in the current economic crisis sparked international …
