US alarm bells over Cameron's EU speech

BBC News, Mark Mardell, North America editor, 23 January 2013

Washington fears Mr Cameron will fail to sell a deal that keeps Britain
in the EU

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The Obama administration has made no bones about it - it wants a strong Britain within a strong Europe.

The President's press secretary, Jay Carney, has said that he welcomed the Prime Minister's call for Britain to remain in the European Union, adding that the US believed the UK was stronger for being in the EU, and the EU was stronger for having the UK as a member.

In the modern version of the special relationship, what Carney called the essential relationship, Britain is valued as an ally precisely because it is one of the leaders of the biggest economy in the world.

Some in Washington think Mr Cameron's speech threatens that role and introduce more unnecessary uncertainty to an already uncertain world.

Until recently, the promise of a referendum from Mr Cameron was seen in Washington as just another phase in the rocky relationship between the UK and continental Europeans.

But now alarm bells are ringing. The White House doesn't care about the EU's internal organisation, and Europe is hardly its biggest concern anyway, but Mr Cameron's promise is definitely an unwanted irritation.

Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs Phil Gordon has been unusually blunt. He is publicly saying that referendums could turn countries inwards.

"We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU. That is in America's interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it," he said.

President Obama repeated this view in a phone call to Mr Cameron.

The Americans are worried for several reasons.

They fear the debate that will rage for the next few years will undermine Britain's voice in the EU and diminish its power.

Indeed, insiders say that has already happened - they find other EU members aren't taking Britain seriously.

Free-trade agreement?

While US officials would agree with Mr Cameron's push for a more competitive, less rule-bound Europe, they fear he will now be less able to achieve it.

There is internal politics too. There is an argument inside the administration over whether or not to seek a free-trade agreement with the EU.

Those who want to go ahead may fear their position has been undermined.

They may feel that Mr Cameron has given ammunition to those who argue it is not worth the bother. Some suggest it would be an irony if such a deal was negotiated - and Britain found itself outside the new free-trade area.

Although the prime minister clearly intends to sell a deal that keeps Britain inside the EU there are fears that he will fail.

The Obama administration values the European Union as an ally that largely shares its vision, and acts with it in the Middle East, over Iran and North Africa.

Officials will fret over the next few years that Britain really could leave and that would badly weaken the EU.

At the risk of hurting British egos, they simply don't see Britain - especially with a declining defence budget - as anything more than a medium-sized power in its own right.

As one insider put it to me: "At the moment Britain is a leader in the biggest economy in the world - what's the strategy for being out? Just trail around behind us?"

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"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)


“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  We told you there'd come a time on the planet when there'd be only five currencies because the continents would decide to put countries together, not separate them. Do you know who was the model? It's the United States. What an experiment you had! Imagine: Could you take many different states that were governed separately, yet didn't have any visible borders, and give them one currency? It worked. It has worked for well over 100 years. Against all odds, it worked.

Fifty years ago, with the end of the last world war, the Europeans saw what the USA did and emulated it. It has become the European Union. After the war, they postulated, "What if we took many of the countries of Europe, ones who have warred with each other since the beginning of recorded civilization, and we unified them? We will take away the borders and give them one currency." They were laughed at! Yet today, you're seeing it.

Today, their monetary system is more valuable than yours! Where am I going with this? Listen - here is an attribute, a postulate, an axiom of this new earth energy: Separatism kills. Unity is the survival of humanity. You will start putting things together and not taking them apart. And the more you put them together, the more you will unify. Then slowly you'll realize that the goal is to put things together, not tear them apart. What has the European Union created? I'll tell you. It isn't the Euro. It has created a group of countries that will never go to war with each other again! They can't. They trade with each other. Think about it. That's what we're talking about. …“