American officials fear that Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) may challenge a few Western countries’ imperial dominance over the rest of the world, says a geopolitical analyst in New York.
Eric Draitser, the founder of stopimperialism.com, made the comments on Wednesday in reaction to US Secretary of State John Kerry’s remarks about the possibility of a Brexit.
Last week, British citizens voted in a historic referendum to leave the EU, a bloc that the UK joined more than 40 years ago.
Speaking a day after meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Kerry said Tuesday that the UK’s decision to leave the bloc “is a very complicated divorce,” and may never materialize.
In an interview with Press TV, Draitser said that Kerry and other US officials were only worried about their own influence in the world, and Europe in particular.
“Kerry and the US government are not particularly concerned about the mechanics of leaving the EU so much as they are concerned about a drop in their own influence and their own public standing,” he said.
Referring to President Barack Obama’s trip to the UK back in April, Draitser recalled how the president “vehemently” campaigned for the Remain side of the Brexit debate.
“In one sense… this vote was seen in many was as a rebuke to President Obama and rebuke to the neo-liberal institution of the European Union,” he argued.
However, he said the vote would also embolden the far-right in the UK including racist and anti-immigration elements as well as neo-fascist groups.
Controlling immigration was one of the key points that leaders of the Leave campaign like former Mayor of London Boris Johnson and UKIP leader Nigel Farage used to win over more support.
“But none of that is particularly concerning to Kerry,” Draitser said. “What he is most concerned about is a danger to neo-liberal dominance by the United States… that really the European Union is seen by Washington as an adjunct of US policy, as a central player in an imperial system that the United States dominates.”
According to Draitser, Brexit for Washington is like any other issue that might challenge its establishment.
He said it was wrong to think that the EU represented multiculturalism, although the Brexit move is also being exploited by racist leaders who serve the British imperialism.