In an interesting article at the NY Observer, Bernie Quigley suggests that the rise of Scottish nationalism (and the SNP’s victories in the most recent election) has led to a rise of English nationalism:
Not everyone in London is terribly upset by the news of Scotland’s victory, Ms. Applebaum writes. “I never really felt ‘British’ anyway,” a friend told her on election night. “I feel English.” And the English do not seem to be putting up much of a fight.
Quigley suggests that this stealth English nationalism (it’s still un-PC to be an English nationalist) is related to recent English moves to be at the forefront of global trends, and not waiting for approval from the Americans, who have pretty much been dictating terms to Britain since 1956.
London has been sure to make alliances with the Chinese, and London, Quigley suggests, will be happy to leverage these new relationships (which Washington detests) to position Britain (or maybe just England) at the center of the world’s new financial realities:
“This past month may be remembered as the moment the United States lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system,” Lawrence Summers, Secretary of the Treasury and advisor to President Obama wrote on April 5, 2015.
What happened was the rise of China to sudden global relevance with the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a direct challenge to American interests throughout the world with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Against all warnings from American leadership, the world’s nations flocked to it.
Most commentary implied that China’s rise would advance in opposition to America. But it should be noted that the flock of world nations, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and other Western nations, was not random. They followed Britain’s initiative, most within hours of Britain’s decision to ignore American warnings. If history reads 1956 as the end of the old realm—when British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan sent his famous, enigmatic three-word telegram to President Eisenhower, “Over to you!”—it might in time recall this as the pivotal moment of Britain taking it back.
“Some events are epochal,” wrote Kishore Mahbubani of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “The decision by Great Britain to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank was one such event. It may have heralded the end of the American century and the arrival of the Asian century.” And Britain opened the gate.
