林德宜：特朗普访英：英式交易之道

在英国，不同阵营媒体能够一致赞颂一位外国领导人的访问，并不常见。然而这一次却发生了：无论是左派、右派还是中间派的英国新闻界，都对美国总统特朗普与夫人马拉尼亚的第二次国是访问大加歌颂。同样，美国媒体也大肆渲染英国王室现身于特朗普访问行程中。

在英国国王查尔斯与威廉王子的礼仪迎接下，特朗普在宴会上，与查尔斯重申了两国的“特殊关系”，并夸大地颂扬两国在全球政治中的角色——无论过去、现在还是未来。

英国媒体的逢迎

小报与“黄色新闻”媒体报导的重点，是宴会嘉宾名单、晚宴菜单、马拉尼亚与王室成员的礼服、展示的王冠等琐事，无穷无尽。英国广播公司甚至特别介绍宴会上的葡萄酒与其他酒品，并细数它们与特朗普人生年份的关联。

当年的日不落帝国─英国虽然在当今世界多数领域早已失去典范地位，但从英国官方与媒体对特朗普的热情吹捧可见，仍显示出这面国旗在逢迎作秀与讨好贵宾的排场中，依旧高高飘扬。

斯塔默的议程

这场被斯塔默领导的工党政府包装成“外交胜利”的逢迎案例，背后有两大目标——一是经济，二是地缘政治。

分析指出，英国经济正处于危机：人均经济增长疲弱、长期低生育率、悲观消费情绪与国际竞争力下滑。这一切综合起来显示了英国经济停滞与生活水平长期下滑的根本问题。

因此，英国媒体大肆宣传首相斯塔默从此次访问中获得的“最大战果”：美国企业承诺投资1500亿英镑／2018亿美元，被称为“科技繁荣协议”（Tech Prosperity Deal），这是借用了特朗普《交易的艺术》一书的表述来形容这项成就。

英国政府声称，这笔投资将创造约7600个新就业机会，这正是政府在11月财政预算前渴望得到的“好消息”。但英国前副首相克莱格却持不同看法，他指出英美科技关系“完全是单向流动”。

他警告，英国正“被削弱”，对美国科技的依赖日益加深，而不是建立自己的科技实力。“这些公司无论如何都需要基础设施资源，他们都在全球各地建数据中心。或许只是为了配合这次国是访问的时间表才加快一些到来，但……这完全是单向流动。”

他还指出：“我们在科技上其实就是一个附庸国。当我们的科技公司稍有规模或抱负，就不得不去（美国）加州，因为我们这里没有的成长资源。”

科技巨头Meta前全球事务总裁对这次经济成果的结论是：“从某种意义上说，这项美英科技协议不过是另一种版本的英国搭山姆大叔的便车。”

搭顺风车红利

在军事合同的巨大利益上“搭便车”的做法同样可见。英国国王查尔斯在宴会演讲中指出，英美同盟是“史上最紧密的防务、安全与情报的同盟关系”。他还特别提到“澳英美三方安全伙伴关系”（AUKUS）的重要性，尽管这一协议涉及的是印太地区甚至马来西亚，距离欧洲本土的英国防务重点相去甚远。当然查尔斯并未在演讲中直接提及中国，但人尽皆知，AUKUS协议下布置的潜艇矛头正是对准中国。

查尔斯声称，美、英、澳之间的潜艇布置合作，为创新与至关重要的协作树立了标竿。然而，他只字未提的是，英国军工企业从该计划中所获得的收益，预计极为可观。由于该计划跨越数十年，无法公开提供单一、精确的数字估算，也难以计算整个计划费用。

不过，根据可信的预测与工程规模，英国工业在这个长达30多年的计划中，极有可能赚取数百亿英镑。这些收益预计将来自AUKUS协议的多个核心领域，该协议不仅涉及潜艇，还涵盖先进技术。

对于英国政坛各个阵营而言，AUKUS不仅仅是一份合同。英国的政治人物与商界人士幻想，这能成为跨世代的保障——带来长期的就业、投资与技术优势，确保英国在未来50年，能与美国并肩坐在全球军火出口商的“上座”。

这也解释了早前约翰逊政府的阴谋性举动——破坏澳洲与法国签订的潜艇合同。此举被法国形容为“背信弃义”。

AUKUS不仅揭示了军火贸易中肮脏与不择手段的一面，也凸显了“冷战思维”下，直指中国的矛头。这是一项挑衅的计划，可能引发印太地区的军备竞赛，进一步动摇区域稳定，破坏地区的和平。

殖民心态的最新体现

英国的殖民与后殖民历史，曾帮助塑造了全球权力格局与刻板印象，而这些因素至今仍导致世界上的不平等、不公义与冲突现象。

英美关系的最新发展，反映出英国企图依附美国的霸权，以此推动自身在新兴全球秩序中的地位，强化其科技与军事基础，并提升在主要盟友之间的影响力。

然而，正在形成的新世界秩序是一个多边格局，而中国正处于其中的核心位置。英国试图破坏这一进程，最终将使英国人民沦为最大的输家。

林德宜《特朗普访英：英式交易之道》原文：Trump UK Visit : British Art of the Deal

It is not often that we have all camps in the British media united in celebrating the visit of a political leader from another country. However this happened with right, left and center of the English press world waxing rhapsodic over the second state visit of Donald Trump and his wife, Melania. The same was apparent with American media going gaga with the presence of British royalty during the visit.

Greeted with a ceremonial welcome by King Charles and Prince William, he was hosted at a banquet in which Trump and Charles reaffirmed their two countries special relationship and showered their own and the other’s nation with exaggerated praise for their role in global politics - past, present and future.

British Media Toadying 

The emphasis of tabloid and “yellow journalism" media covering the visit was who was on the banquet guest list and the dinner menu, the dresses worn by Melania and royalty, the tiaras on display, and other trivia, ad.infinitum. Special attention was given by the British Broadcasting Corporation to the wines and other alcoholic drinks served and how their dating related to special years in Trump’s life history.

Though the sun has long set on Britain as a noteworthy model in today’s world in most sectors of life, the official and media gushing on Trump shows that the UK flag still flies very high in government and public displays of sycophantic pageantry and cringe worthy buttering of special visitors.

Starmer’s Agenda Uncovered

Two objectives - one, economic and the second, geopolitical - were foremost in this case study of ingratiation and grovelling passed off as a diplomatic triumph by Keith Starmer’s Labour government.

Analysts have noted that the UK economy has been in crisis with the convergence of weak per-capita growth, chronic low productivity, consumer pessimism and falling international competitiveness. Together they point to a fundamental and potentially entrenched problem of economic stagnation and long-term decline in real living standards.

Hence it is not surprising to see English media trumpeting prime minister Starmer’s “biggest coup” from the visit - £150 billion worth of investment from US companies, dubbed the “Tech Prosperity Deal”; the description borrowed from Trump’s Art of the Deal in describing his achievements.

The government – desperate for good economic news before the November budget – claims the investment will create some 7,600 jobs. Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg provided a different perspective saying that the relationship between the UK and the US tech sector was “all one-way traffic”.

He warned that Britain was being “defanged” by fostering a greater reliance on the US tech sector, rather than building its own. “These companies need those infrastructure resources anyway. They’re building datacentres all over the world. Maybe they were pushed a bit forward just to meet the timetable with this week’s state visit. But … it’s all one-way traffic.”

He also noted: “We’re a kind of vassal state technologically, we really are. The moment our companies, our tech companies, start developing any scale or ambition, they have to go to California, because we don’t have the growth capital here.

Meta’s former president of global affairs conclusion on the visit’s economic highlight :“In a sense, this US-UK tech deal is just another version of the United Kingdom holding onto Uncle Sam’s coat-tails.”

Cashing Big From Coat-tails Holding

Coat-tails holding for lucrative military contract deals was also displayed when Charles in his banquet speech noted that the alliance between the UK and US was the "closest defence, security and intelligence relationship ever known". On this, he made a reference to the importance of the AUKUS pact, which has implications for the Indo Pacific region and Malaysia, far distant from Europe where the UK should be focused on for its defense concerns. Although Charles did not mention China in his speech, everyone knows that the AUKUS submarines are intended to target China.

Charles claimed that the AUKUS submarine partnership, with the US and Australia, had set the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration. What he omitted mentioning is that the earnings for British defence companies from the AUKUS project are projected to be very significant. A direct, single-number estimate is not publicly available and is difficult to calculate because the project spans decades.

Credible estimates and the scale of work suggest British industry is poised to earn tens of billions of pounds over the 30+ year lifespan of the programme. The earnings are expected to come from several key pillars of the AUKUS agreement, which is more than just submarines but also includes advanced technologies.

For UK political parties on all sides of the divide the hope is that AUKUS is not just a contract. British politicians and business people dream that it can be a generational guarantee of work, investment, and technological relevance to secure the country's place at the top table of global armament exporters - alongside the US for the next 50 years.

Hence the earlier conspiratorial, and what the French have described as treacherous, action undertaken by Boris Johnson’s government to torpedo the contract for French built submarines that Australia had agreed to buy.

AUKUS reflects not only the sleazy and unscrupulous dealings that are part of the weapons trade. It also highlights the "Cold War mentality" which is aimed at bringing down China. It is a provocative project which could trigger an arms race in the Indo-Pacific, destabilizing the region and undermining peace.

Latest Manifestation of the Colonial Mindset

Britain’s colonial and post colonial history helped establish global power dynamics and stereotypes that contribute to the inequalities, injustices and conflicts found in the world today.

This latest phase reflects British ambition to piggyback on American dominance to advance the British place in an evolving global order, strengthen its technological and military base, and enhance its influence among key allies.

The evolving new world order is a multilateral one with China at its centre. UK attempts to undermine it will end up with the British people being among the biggest losers.