In fairness, it was a fabulous gaffe from the 46th President of the United States.
He was speaking in a Dundalk, a staunchly Republican spot I know well, in a pub rather improbably called the Windsor.
When Joe Biden first saw the light of day in November 1942, the USA had already bailed out Britain after the defeat in France to the Wehrmacht.
In his brilliant book The Phoney Victory, Peter Hitchens describes how beggared the British were as they had left millions worth of military equipment at Dunkirk.
FDR sent his finance guy to the Capitol to plead bankrupt Britain’s case in the summer of 1940.
When wee Joe was a nipper, the Empire of Japan would simplify things at Pearl Harbor.
It was the end of British global domination that had started with the defeat of Napoleon.
If the Brits didn’t get the memo in 1945, their ill-judged adventure at the Suez Canal zone in 1956 soon let them know their day had gone.
It was necessary to invent the Special Relationship.
The reality of that the British political elite clings to this fiction, and it isn’t a thing in DC.
This is in particularly stark relief when the occupant of the Oval Office is openly and confidently of Irish heritage.
It seems to rankle the Brits, reminding them of their subordinate role within the Atlantic alliance.
Now, I’m sure that the world-class rugby players from New Zealand have never committed war crimes like the vermin in the featured image.
Sadly, Uncle Sam has a plethora of special military units that have behaved like the Tans from Vietnam to Iraq.
As we mark the quarter century of the Belfast Agreement on this island, those of us who were there at the time know that the role of Irish America was crucial in bringing the Brits to the table.
That powerful lobby has emerged from a diaspora created by Britain’s many crimes here.
For the avoidance of doubt, the grisly reality of the Tans should be taught to every British school child.
Lest we forget.
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Arlene isn’t to happy about Joe on GB news. Then again she hasn’t got much to be happy about these days. Sinn Fein first minister. Windsor agreement. Sevco getting beat by Celtic. Casement Park having to used for N.Irelands bit in the Euro 28 bid. Things ain’t what they used to be.
Nauseating to hear Biden pontificating about peace in the North. This same person that supported the war in Iraq.
Spoken like a true brit ! hiding your “yanks go home” attitude behind same.
What a ridiculous comment. A warmonger’s a warmonger. It’s clearly not about his nationality/ethnicity.
Correct
Don’t mention the tans, Joe, don’t say black and… doh!
Actually, I think he did it deliberately.
Here’s some feedback from US officials being asked about their thoughts on the UK that shocked a lot of Brits.
“No one cares about Brexit. We couldn’t give a ****. If you choose to do such a monumental act of self-harm to yourselves, that’s your problem. We don’t want to hear about it. We don’t want to know about it. We don’t care about UK politics.”
“We’re just not that into you. We haven’t got the bandwidth to care about Brexit and its details. But if the UK creates a row with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, we will certainly be annoyed with you. It would be a monumental act of self-indulgence at a moment of real crisis. We don’t have time for this crap right now.”