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Facing blowback, US and UK 'disassociating from intl. community'

Wednesday, 01 February 2017 10:39 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 01 February 2017 10:39 AM ]

US President Donald Trump greets Britain's Theresa May

The US and UK have embarked upon a path that would further disengage them from the rest of the international community, according to a political analyst.

“You have the United States and Britain saying, ‘We are now going to disassociate from the international community’… and become isolationist countries,” Rodney Martin, a former congressional staffer based in Los Angeles, said in an interview.

“The United Kingdom is now leaving the European Union with Brexit vote and the United States with the new Trumpism harkening back to American Firstism,” he elaborated.

Belgium's King Philippe warned EU members on Tuesday that the US and UK were pursuing policies that could “create rifts in our society” and “reverse the course of history.”

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US, UK threaten 'course of history': Belgian king

Philippe said 2016 was a year marked by the two countries’ decision to “shift their focus inward," a reference to Britain's vote to exit the EU and US President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies, including an entry ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Martin told Press TV that Philippe is simply echoing concerns of many around the world.

The US and UK, the analyst said, are “the two largest perpetrators of international imperialism, exploitation and theft of resources.”

“Both of these two countries have gone around the world and engaged in wanton violence, ethnic cleansing and warmongering and created the situation with regard to refugees and people fleeing their homes,” Martin said.

Instead of addressing the global “blowback” to their “horrific foreign policy,” the US and UK have decided to “slam the door” on refugees, whose lives have been destroyed as a result of imperialist wars by the two countries.

Thousands have protested in streets and airports of major cities across the US since Friday when Trump signed an executive order banning citizens of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia from entering the US for at least 90 days.

The order halted all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked Syrian refugees indefinitely.

The immigration curbs sparked mass protests across the UK, where Prime Minister Theresa May has come under criticism over her invitation for Trump to visit London later this year.

British MPs will debate whether the Republican president should be granted a state visit to the UK. The debate will be held in the House of Commons on February 20.

The announcement came Tuesday afternoon as a petition calling for the invitation to be canceled had garnered some 1.7 million signatures.

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www.presstv.co.uk