Obama exhibitng Stockholm Syndrome?

The auguries suggested that the new U.S. President might be throwing the "special relationship" with Great Britain to the four winds. For reasons of ancestral torture at the hand of the British, Barack Obama seemed to be signaling a personal dislike for the Brits, ousting a bust of the venerated Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, and treating the current PM Gordon Brown like any old foreign leader during his initial visit to the White House.

But, when it came time for Obama to cross the pond, groveling before former masters became the assumed posture, as one headlline suggests:

First Black President Grovels to Virulently Racist Royal Family

The niceties of such meetings can conceal underlying hatreds, betrayed in ever so slight departures from the proper decorum. For instance, how dare Michelle Obama, a descendant of slaves, presume to embrace Her Majesty!

But, if this was disrespect, that was the least of what she deserved. In fact, if a generational, eye-for-eye execution of justice were to be delivered, we might imagine Barack Hussein Obama pulling out a machette and stabbing Her Royal Scabbard, booming in an Afro-English dialect:

AND DEES IZ VOR WAT YOU DEED TO MY GRANVATAR, HUSSEIN ONYANGO OBAMA!

But, no, instead we heard such statements as...

I think in the imagination of people throughout America, I think what the Queen stands for and her decency and her civility, what she represents, that's very important.

There is just a extraordinary affinity and kinship that we have. We owe so much to England; that when you come here there's that sense of familiarity, as well as difference, that makes it just a special place.

There's one last thing that I should mention that I love about Great Britain, and that is the Queen.

LaRouchePAC offers these psychological observations to explain Obama's conciliatory behavior towards British interests:

Obama's Popularity

Obama's Ego

Obama's Nero Complex

A Trip to the Woodshed

Given the family history, however, we might add to the psychological profile a diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome.

In any case, with the run up to and during the G-20 meeting, it seemed that it was Brown and Obama, bringing the "USUK" together again, against the world... But, particularly against Merkel and Sarkozy:

Merkel and Sarkozy Sharpen Their Tone in London

The time of useless summits has passed," intoned Sarkozy. When it comes to the regulation of the financial markets, he said, there will be no room for negotiation. Merkel seconded her French counterpart, saying that "nothing can be swept under the rug." For Germany and France, she said, regulation is not up for debate. "Whoever doesn't understand that is paving the way to the next crisis," she warned.

And so they apparently got their way...

An almost historic compromise...

The proposals for tighter regulation of the markets were surely a victory for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Ms Merkel, who had declared much tougher rules on hedge funds to be a 'red line'. If it drives some of the more greedy and destructive speculators out of the market, the move will receive popular support.

But there is also the very real danger these moves will prove too repressive for the financial sector - Britain's great wealth creator, let us not forget - which could find itself strangled by red tape...

G20 summit: New global regulatory regime to cover 'shadow banking'

"Systemically important" institutions – including the shadow banking that encompasses hedge funds and credit rating agencies – face new rules in an attempt to correct the major failures in financial regulation and supervision considered to be fundamental causes of the current problems...

An elated Mr Sarkozy said: "We would never have hoped to get so much."

But, not so fast Sarkie...

Gambling on a dream: but do the G20 figures add up?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development took the G20's nod and on Friday began naming and shaming countries misbehaving and not meeting the new international standards on the exchange of tax information.

But the action on tax havens is not comprehensive. Low taxation zones will still operate and it is possible that closing tax-dodging territories will lead to new ones elsewhere.