"The British media are mightily offended over what they see as anti-British rhetoric in the administration's attacks on BP. My feeling is that the specifically anti-UK element in the U.S. reaction to the oil spill has so far been impressively slight--and far smaller than would be the anti-US reaction in Britain if the case were reversed. Americans seem no angrier with BP than they would be with one of their own oil companies. I don't think they care one way or the other that the firm is British." — Clive CrookIt's truly bizarre, as a Brit living in the US, to witness the British press whining so. As I've said on this blog, I'm absolutely amazed there wasn't a more nationalist flavor to the debate earlier, and I'm still amazed at how mild it is, if it's even existent at all. There doesn't seem to be any anti-Brit feeling coming out of the Gulf. Imagine the uproar if an American company had fouled the coast of Normandy, or the white cliffs of Dover. I suspect a large part of this is residual anger left over from the Bush administration and the way Blair caved over Iraq. The British press are saying to Cameron: here's your chance. Don't do a Blair. They're fighting the last war, as people always do.
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I just don't think it matters anymore, for me anyway, the country of origin for conglomerates like this. BP and Exxon/Mobil, Goldman Sachs and Royal Bank of Scotland... they're all crooks who put hubristic amounts of personal wealth above all else, including the lives and well being of the millions of people who are affected by their endeavors--and inevitable fuck-ups--in pursuit of more more more MORE money. They're all disgusting, whether Brits or Americans or anyone else.
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