Star warped

Some years ago I went to a Whofest where Mark Strickson was on a panel of the show's stars that was asked what they thought of Americans (those on the panel were all British). Mark's answer was "I love Americans, I think you're great people, but I'd appreciate it if you'd get your nuclear missiles out of my country, thank you very much."

It appears that message still hasn't gotten through. The BBC reported on Sunday that

The Independent on Sunday says Tony Blair has agreed a secret deal with the US to base missiles at RAF Fylingdales [Airbase] in North Yorkshire.

The weapons would allow the US to destroy incoming missiles and form part of the new US missile defence system. ...

Work has already started on a £449m project to upgrade RAF Fylingdales to make it part of the US anti-missile defence programme.

But until now, the government has only confirmed it will allow the US to use early warning radar at the base. ...

According to the Independent on Sunday, the deal to permit missiles was brokered in Washington last May by senior official from the British Embassy and the US State Department.

It is reported the British agreed the deal in principle, but asked that it be kept under wraps until after the next election.

It seems Bush isn't the only one who thinks of everything in terms of elections.

The Ministry Of Defense has denied the reports, saying there had been no "formal approach," a weasel phrase if ever there had been one since the report is that there is an agreement in principle, not that some kind of formal written arrangement had been made. It's what we used to call a "non-denial denial," trying to sound like you're denying A by actually denying B. In fact, the MOD statement makes me believe more than before that Tony "Lapdog" Blair is living up to his sobriquet.

Footnote: The article also notes that the US is stationing missiles and Alaska and California and in August cut a deal with Denmark to allow use of a radar base in Greenland. Ronald Raygun's fantasy lives on.