Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics History Roundtable Did Britain Wreck the World?

An Article from Newsweek that reviews Britain's ample contribution to the current problems of the world
link

It is a devastating indictment which no doubt does not mention many other unfortunate impacts. I wonder if it would be so very different for any nation who bestrides the world as a colossus. Maybe if Britain had not meddled in these situations, there would simply be a different set of problems for the world to deal with. Never the less, we do not see the problems that "might have been", and instead only see the detritus of a presumptuous and arrogant empire.

I continue to wonder it the USA should not abdicate it's role as "sole remaining super power"... and participate in the world community as one nation among many others on this planet.

Well, all I can say is that it was Britain's government who did all the partitioning way back when, creating all these "artificial" countries in a region where ethnicity and religion dictate where borders should be drawn.

And today we are dealing with the result.

Oh, I blame it all on Carthage, or was it the Neo Assyrians?

So hard to know who to blame.

Obama of course

Well, Ardy, I'd agree with you that the problems would be there, but only of a different aspect, with any other imperial aftermath.

Did Alexander wreck the eastern Mediterranean basin and southwest Asia? Did Rome wreck the entire Mediterranean world and parts of western Europe as far as Britain and the Rhine? Did the conquering Arabs wreck other cultures across Africa and southwest Europe? Did the Mongols wreck much of the Eurasian states from China to the Vistula? Did the Turks wreck both the Arab world and much of eastern and southeastern Europe? Did the Russian empire wreck much of Europe and Asia? Did the Habsburgs wreck eastern and southern Europe? Did the Spaniards and the Portugese wreck south and central america and parts of Africa and Asia? Ditto the Belgians and the French in Africa, the Dutch in SE Asia, etc.?

Of course, blame the evil Euro-guy is the currently-chic two-minute hate drill.

i think your point is fair ron. of course, as to your last line, i wonder if it wasn't trendy to bash the romans etc., at one time or another.

Perhaps we could use a New Rule: When you take over a place by force, expect to pay the (karmic and/or other) price.

Like, say, oil dependency, obesity, a not-rock-solid place in the world's affections - I'm sure there are others.

Hmmm... perhaps not so much "devastating" as incredibly racist, Ardy. It assumes that 'black' people and 'brown' people are simply not capable of living in anything other than an environment of racial and ethnic homogeny, else they are compelled to begin butchering each other because they are incapable of resolving issues and living in peaceful co-existence.
Yours,
Issodhos

Probably was... but probably not by fellow Romans.
Yours,
Issodhos

Well here's the rub.
Britain did a fantastic job partitioning the world to suit the needs of their empire, and after the British Empire fell, America came along and batted cleanupm creating new colonial nightmares where either such had not existed before or where
they had.
Yes, along the way we did happen to free a few countries from a ruthless dictator or two bent on world domination but I wonder if we would have done so had we not been attacked.
At least we did do some good while we were exploiting the hell out of the place.
And maybe the Brits did, too.
In many ways it depends on who you are asking.
One thing is certain however...a great many of these nations will no longer tolerate business as usual.
They're going to use their resources as gaming chips and for perhaps the first time in our existence we are faced with no other choice but to become independent of them, or face a century of unsustainable debt and permanent war, also clearly unsustainable in my humble opinion.

Meaning, it will not last a century, the debt will destroy us long before.
We are a debtor nation now as it is, and we're fast becoming a debtor nation with little or nothing to offer.
Other nations can't even exploit our laborers, they're still convinced that we're the superpower.