Relationship management

George the 43rd set America's course, free of worldly engagement. America went it alone, no longer content to be the consensus taker, it tried the consensus maker route.

That probably didn't work out too well, and things changed along the way.

Things like "special" relationships.

This has allowed Obama to re-engage the world on an international stage, free of the co-stars to which it had become habitually mated. Ergo, this about US and Israel.

Rift Exposes Split in Views on Mideast

When Israel announced new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem at the start of a visit this month by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized for the timing and expressed regret at the embarrassment. Mr. Biden accepted his explanation, and the two sides seemed prepared to move on.

Since then, though, that event has remained lodged at the center of American-Israeli relations.

No easy resolution likely as Obama pressurises Israel

Just how much of these ill winds is Israel’s doing and how much is due to the shifting sands on the international stage?

Still, Israelis are concerned about the status of their country’s special relationship with the US

And this about George the 3rd's United Kingdom.

Special relationship between UK and US is over, MPs say

The Commons Foreign Affairs committee said it was wrong to speak of "the special relationship" with the US, as it was fostering other alliances. However, the MPs did agree that the link between the countries was "profound and valuable".

"The perception that the British government was a subservient 'poodle' to the US administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas," it said.

"This perception, whatever its relation to reality, is deeply damaging to the reputation and interests of the UK."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the British media's "preoccupation" with the state of the relationship was often at the "expense of coverage of the more substantive aspects of the relationship".

"The overuse of the phrase by some politicians and many in the media serves simultaneously to de-value its meaning and to raise unrealistic expectations about the benefits the relationship can deliver to the UK."

Guambat reckons the feeling is mutual. Mutually good.