Yes, I think at present England is pretty close to being a client state.

When France and Germany actually declined to follow orders and collude in cutting short the inspection process and moving on to war, the reaction by the USA indicated that this was seen as a kind of mutiny by people who ought to have known their place. "How dare these French threaten to obstruct our will by using their veto?" - and that from a country which uses its own veto at the drop of a a hat.

As I said, I very much hope that Strick's optimistic feelings about all this are born out in practice.