Berlin, Germany (Weltexpress). The American President Biden will not come to the coronation of Charles III. Even the Japanese Crown Prince will make the effort to attend Westminster Abbey on 6 May, representing his brother, Emperor Naruhito – and dozens of other heads of state, not least the Austrian Federal President Van der Bellen with his wife. Only the highest representative of the most powerful nation in the world – traditionally linked to Britain by the much-vaunted “special relationship” – will be absent from this historic, once-in-a-lifetime event. For the moderate right-wing tabloid Daily Mail, the boycott of the coronation ceremony clearly proves that Joe Biden “hates Britain” – as well as “his friends Harry and Meghan”. An indication of this distancing from Britain was the removal of the bust of Winston Churchill, “the greatest British statesman of all time”, from the Oval Office at the very beginning of his presidency in 2021. The quality newspaper “Telegraph” states: “Joe Biden has seriously insulted Britain. He showed only contempt for the “special relationship”, for America’s closest friend and ally.
What’s behind all this? Biden’s Irish origins, which he invokes at every opportunity. There are more inhabitants with Irish ancestors in the USA than Irish people in Ireland itself. That is why Biden has always supported the Irish republican cause, writes the „Telegraph“, as shown by the photo he shared with Gerry Adams, the former president of Sinn Fein, political wing of the terrorist movement IRA. The granting of an American visa for Adams had been pushed through by Biden at the time of predecessor Clinton – provoking outbursts of rage from the conservative British government under John Major.
When Biden landed in Belfast a few days ago, before rushing on to the Republic of Ireland for a three-day visit after his short visit to the UK’s Northern Ireland, he is said to have virtually ignored British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who had come especially to greet him. The Northern Irish Protestant Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) criticized Biden as “extremely biased“ for emphasizing his Irish roots. In fact, Biden paid a highly symbolic visit to the Irish Centre for Genealogy and Family History – which promptly labelled him the “most Irish of all US presidents”. The relationship between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan was almost intimate – “a very Special Relationship” enthused the BBC. Much later, three quarters of Britons were outraged by Donald Trump’s policies – and his heavy-handed behaviour. Boris Johnson had simply refused to use the term “special relationship”. On his visit to Ireland, Biden has now banished the transatlantic friendship to the deep freeze until further notice – and produced a nasty punchline with an embarrassing slip of the tongue: He confused the New Zealand “All Blacks” rugby team with the “Black and Tans” (Royal Irish Constabulary Special Reserve) army unit, notorious for its brutality against Sinn Fein and the IRA on the island under British rule during the Irish War of Independence.
