This ^^ a million times this. I genuinely wonder if people in the US see countries like the UK, Australia, Germany, etc as being "partners" in some kind of rel

This ^^ a million times this. I genuinely wonder if people in the US see countries like the UK, Australia, Germany, etc as being "partners" in some kind of relationship of equals? Whereas, from the other side of the telescope it genuinely feels like living in a vassal state "They say jump. We say 'how high?'" There may be as yet undiscovered tribes in the midst of the Amazonian jungle who were surprised by this decision. But, in the UK, we all knew that, once the US "demanded" the UK would bend over and lube up... after the usual bit of judicial theatre, to make it all appear above board, of course.