BP - the American failing

WHY OBAMA IS WRONG TO HAMMER BP

The British press headlines are screaming: "Obama's boot on the throat of the British pensioner". The US president is referring scathingly, to "British Petroleum", not "BP", as the major monster polluter in the Gulf of Mexico. An increasingly hysterical tone is quite deliberately infusing the US Administration's targeting of the Foreign Offender.

Are we terrified? No, we are not. Are we ashamed? No, we accept (as BP has), a degree of responsibility. What we are, already, is a bit embarrassed for President Obama. He has disappointed us. In British terms, this is a dire judgement. Let us leave aside for a moment the logical counter arguments about free trade, global and collective responsibility, the special relationship, and the collusion of political and regulatory powers down the ages. Let us hold on to, but not yet wield, the questionable environmental record of BP, along with those of all other oil majors globally. Let us ...