PNN – Politico magazine wrote in an article referring to US President Donald Trump’s recent actions towards allies and the decline in European trust in Washington that perhaps it is time for Britain, as a long-standing ally, to prepare for the worst.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, some within Britain believe that it is time for London to step back from sharing information with Washington, one of the most vital parts of the two sides’ special relationship.
The proposal comes after Trump issued an order last month not to share information with Ukraine. Although this decision was quickly condemned by Kiev’s allies across Europe, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasized that the London government would not retaliate, noting that the country considers relations with the United States to be inextricably intertwined in various defense, security, and intelligence sectors.
Several current and former British intelligence officials also stated in an interview with Politico that the ties between British and American intelligence networks are so deep that it is impossible to separate them.
Can the intertwined alliance between Britain and America be broken?
But some experts say that despite the complex nature of these relationships, if the US continues to distance itself from its long-standing allies under Trump, London may need to plan for things that were previously unthinkable.
The publication further points to Britain’s long history in intelligence, noting that information sharing in the “Five Eyes” framework, which includes the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, dates back to the post-World War II era.
In addition to this alliance, Britain has some other intelligence assets that remain valuable to the United States, including its listening posts. These posts include military and intelligence installations that are often used outside the UK to monitor allied communications.
Neil Melvin, Director of International Security at the Royal United Services Defense and Security Think Tank, considered it unlikely that the United States would leave the Five Eyes alliance and explained: For example, the British intelligence base in Agios Nikolaos, Cyprus, on which the US relies for the Eastern Mediterranean, is of great importance to Israel.
According to this expert, if the United States withdraws from the Five Eyes alliance, it will have to replace some of the very expensive assets that the United Kingdom possesses, as well as its signals and intelligence databases.
The key to an emergency cutoff of American weapons for European allies
Another concern among America’s European allies arose after Washington announced a kind of “emergency kill switch” in weapons sold to Europeans that could hinder the effectiveness of F-35 jets sold to allies, including Britain. These concerns were heightened by Trump’s comments when announcing the next-generation F-47 fighter jet deal. Trump said at the ceremony that if the jets were sold to allies, the capabilities of the new fighters could be reduced by about 10 percent, because they might not be our allies any more, right?
This is despite the fact that the United States is the supplier of many of Britain’s security and defense innovations.
Fear of influence from American billionaires with new technologies
Politico further noted: While US companies’ access to Britain is nothing new, the hyper-political nature of the current generation of tech billionaires with ties to the Trump White House has raised concerns in some parts of the country’s intelligence community.
A senior figure in the British intelligence community who now works in the private sector told Politico that Elon Musk, the head of the Trump administration’s Office of Effectiveness, is clearly interested in influencing British and European policy.
He added: Musk and similar figures present in the Trump administration must be purged from our systems regardless of the cost, because we are witnessing an emerging oligarchic and authoritarian system, and these people are right in the middle of it.
Prepare for the worst.
Politico, emphasizing that the British position so far has been to refrain from criticizing Trump, adds: A former senior intelligence official said: There is still considerable resistance within the British government, particularly to coming to terms with the fact that trust in the United States has been lost.
The publication also argued in another section that given Trump’s possible withdrawal from the international standard-setting system, Britain has an opportunity to step into a leadership role. Although it cannot match America’s financial might, it commands a respect in Europe that the US is rapidly losing.
A former intelligence official told Politico: America’s reputation across Northern and Eastern Europe is gone. The old NATO is gone.