As the US pulls out of Iraq and we in Ireland are faced, in 2012, with choosing between a tighter relationship with core Europe or something looser with Britain as our key ally, the article from ten years ago this week on the nature of empires and diplomacy is still valid. Remember this was written three months after 9/11 well before the invasion of Iraq when America was regarded as a “hyper-power”.
The article from five years ago this week discusses the rise in obesity in Ireland back then. The trend continues unfortunately
Looking with a bit of hindsight at these two pieces; The diplomacy and empire article; I think D McW was overestimating the role of oil as a motivator for American policy.The article didn’t mention the US defense industry/complexes desire and role in promoting and prolonging these wars. The US, I think and its been admitted openly too, wants a permanent state of war to keep its population in line – fear and patriotic fervour are instilled to distract from the continiued beggaring the great masses to pay for these extravagently rich people. Is Iran next? On the obesity article; I… Read more »
I learnt this rubbish at school too. 1)To mark the Battle of Kinsale as the beginning of the British Empire is nuts. It started in 1763, officially after defeating the other European powers in the 7-years war. 2)By 1783 it was defeated, marked by the Battle of Yorktown, and signed the Peace of Paris. 3)Since 1783 it has started wars. Bismark’s final speech remarked “they will start a 7-year war”, known as WWI. 4)There is no doubt the British Empire has and had its assets in the USA. It alone supported the Confederate secession, to no avail. Today Obama is… Read more »
I know Ferguson. Still anyone knows the British Empire was officially declared in 1763. I do not see any problem with that. Earlier massacres or genocide were amateur. Empire is something else entirely. The USA stopped Cornwallis, who later became Ireland Viceroy, seemed to be a professional military person, complained to the King about Parliaments Irish policy. Lafayette, the hero of Yorktown was in his twenties – how embarrassing! Too bad if I irritate, nothing to what the Brits felt when a small little island threw them out in 1921. This is no place for delicate nerves. Still having problems… Read more »
Morning from Israel which is an interesting place to be when thinking about the first article above.
Thanks for the comments. The point of the archives is just to see where we were a few years ago and to see whether we can learn anything from the repeating cycles we witness. BTW I tend to agree with Ferguson on this. I remember interviewing him in 2003/4 when Empire was published and thinking here is a guy on the move.
Best,
David
Boa noite do Brasil. The cyclical or openly repetive aspects of the nature of history interest me greatly also. I never undersatnd is why it rarely changes. To be honest art/design history is what I’m most familiar with and it is completely cyclical in nature. It rotates between poles of art/design excess and restraint. all you have to do is simply think of baroque vs austere neo classical or 80s post modern faux clasical excess vs 90s minimalism – round and round it goes. In the past a number of books in particular were important for me in trying to… Read more »
Interesting article, David. Michael Hudson would take the view that dollar primacy has allowed the US since the 70s to run up a huge deficit to finance their military bases around the world – ie a free lunch plus the rest of the paying for the cost of those bases which encircle them. They have no alternative, he argues, to buying US debt as sitting on the dollars leads (apparently) to their own currencies appreciating and removing their competitive advantage. The British, as I recall, favoured informal empire where possible as it was cheaper. Argentina would have been a prime… Read more »
American Empire Noam Chomsky interviewed by Matthew Kennard Global Empire: Interviste su globalizzazione, dominio petrolifero, libertà , Roma: Datanews, 2005 [interview conducted on November 21, 2004] Matthew Kennard: Do you think Empire bring any benefits to the colonized? Historians like Niall Ferguson have talked about the economic benefits… Professor Noam Chomsky: To England yes. Actually even in the case of England it’s a mixed story. There have been some attempts over the years to try to do a kind of cost benefit analysis of the British Empire – how much did England gain? how much did it lose. You can’t really… Read more »
On the oil game,
Playing chess in Eurasia
By Pepe Escobar
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/ML22Ag02.html
Since Argentina is discussed, and Empire, here is up-to-the-minute 2011 news directly relevant to the debate from Dec24 LPAC. There is danger of a new Malvinas war, in the context of a general WWIII thermonuclear conflict, and assassinations. British Empire Targets Argentine President With Malvinas War Hysteria In his annual Christmas message to the residents of the Malvinas (Falklands) Islands Dec. 23, British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that he would “never negotiate the sovereignty” of the islands with the Argentine government, unless of course the residents decided otherwise. This is just the latest of a series of provocations coming… Read more »
Further detailed intelligence on Argentina, now. Close Adviser to Argentine President Dies Under Suspicious Circumstances Ivan Heyn, Argentina’s Undersecretary of Foreign Trade and an economic adviser to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was found dead in his hotel room in Montevideo, Uruguay, on the afternoon of Nov. 20, allegedly a suicide victim. However, the circumstances surrounding his death are highly suspicious, as there is no apparent motive, and he had been seen just hours before in excellent spirits, laughing and joking with associates, and expected to contribute to discussions at the heads-of-state summit of the Common Market of the South… Read more »