“How will Great Britain survive Brexit and prosper in a world solidifying into the three empire blocs of the U.S., China and the European Union? One answer is to realize the concept of the ‘Canzuk Union,’ a vital first step on the way to a fully functioning Anglosphere.”
So begins a Wall Street Journal op-ed of Aug. 8 by British scribbler Andrew Roberts, now at King’s College London, and also at the Hoover Institution with Niall Ferguson. Roberts wishes to make clear that he is speaking for a section of the British Empire. Clearly his paean reflects the increasingly desperate and dangerous effort of the extended British Empire to prevent a four- or five-power summit of the leading nations.
By “Canzuk,” Roberts refers to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K., and proposes that “some form of federation among them—with free trade, free movement of people, a mutual defense organization and combined military capabilities—would create a new global superpower and ally of the U.S., the great anchor of the Anglosphere.” He does state the obvious, that the “Canzuk” countries already share in common a head of state, Queen Elizabeth II.
His is a stated intent, coming from circles in the United Kingdom, to forge a superpower to take on China (and Russia) but counting on the complete British reoccupation of Washington: “the discussions taking place among its proponents today—mostly conservative policy intellectuals but also a growing number of political figures—are rooted powerfully in the present and in a cool assessment of Realpolitik. The Canzuk Union would immediately enter the global stage as a superpower, able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the great defining struggle of the 21st century against an increasingly revanchist China.
“Canzuk would have a combined GDP of more than $6 trillion, placing it behind only the U.S., China and the EU. Its combined population of 135 million would make it the world’s ninth-largest power demographically, with much higher levels of education and GDP per capita than most of the other eight. And with a combined defense expenditure of over $100 billion, it would also be able to punch above its weight,” Roberts intones.
