jmg@houxk.UUCP (11/12/83)
James Bray makes a feeble attempt to nullify all the evidence I've presented by the timeworn debating tactic known as "reductio ad absurdam" which is to reduce your oppostion's arguments to the absurd. The same type of maneuvers can be seen in the short submission by Frank Adrian. But debating tactics, no matter how well executed, cannot blot out the miserable record of the British government as an "ally" of the U.S. Please remember that I never spoke out against the British *PEOPLE* nor did I speak out against Canadians or their government. Canadians who think they have been exempted from the effects of British government double-dealing should read about the WWII raid against Dieppe, France by Canadian forces in "Bodyguard of Lies" by Anthony Cave Brown (a British author). It seems that Winston Churchill blew the cover on the entire operation, thus causing a massive slaughter of Canadian troops by the Germans, because he thought it was premature to attack the continent of Europe at that time. Please don't flame back on this item until you've read the specified section of this book. It's so tiresome to debate the uninformed. Concerning the British Jim Bray says: "And they're supposed to be our closest European Ally...". The operative words here are "supposed to be". What I've been trying to point out is that we cannot assume that any nation is our ally because they happen to speak the same language even though wishful thinking leads us in that direction. I believe that Canada and Australia have been much better allies to the U.S. than Britain could ever be. Germany and Japan, though once enemies of the U.S., just as Britain has been our enemy, are certainly our allies now. The U.S.S.R. which was once nominally our ally is now our enemy. China which once our ally became our enemy and now seems to be moving towards becoming our ally once again. The lesson behind all this is that world conditions constantly change and we cannot make national policy decisions based on cultural similarities or irrational feelings of common interest which have no basis in fact. If the British government wants to play "world empire" as they recently did in the Falklands, they should at least be expected to do it on their own bankroll and military resources. If they want to claim the aid and protection of an ally, then they should act like an ally or else get their military and economic aid from Canada or Australia or any other nation that feels like their ally.