To what extent does the U.S. government control other countries' governments?

Great Debates
1

Just a question that came up when reading about the latest in the Edward Snowden saga, and thinking back to other times terrorists and non-terrorists alike in other countries decided that the U.S. was doing something, coercive or otherwise, with their own government to get something done that was solely in U.S. interests.

To what extent do you think non-United States governments “do the bidding” of the U.S. government’s (no matter what you think the reason or method is — even if the other government does it independently just to “curry favor”)? Feel free to address individual cases if they stand out in your mind.

2

Considering the British government was happy to betray its constituents for the goddamn IOC, I think it goes without saying that they’d do the same for their most powerful ally.

3

It depends but in this case the UK Govt is a willing co-conspirator and probably acted entirely on its own initiative.