Here are two statements Joe Biden will never make: “Queen Elizabeth II’s legacy is inextricably bound up with the legacy of British imperialism, which oppressed millions around the world.” “Given the way China suffered under Western (and Japanese) imperialism, it’s not surprising that today’s Chinese leaders see America’s antagonistic posture as yet another Western effort to keep China down.”
I feel your columns are growing dangerously close to anti-Americanism, which is disappointing. The United States is not an empire, and a direct comparison from the British Empire to the United States is ludicrous.
As for "telling the truth about Queen Elizabeth" she was a constitutional monarch. Whether she supported or opposed the decisions of her prime ministers to accelerate decolonization in the '60s, '70s and '80s is immaterial. Her role was to personify the country she fictionally leads. The monarchy is a fiction, and acting like Elizabeth is somehow responsible for actions which occurred before her birth (which is why your example is the Mau Mau Uprising alone) is ridiculous.
Finally on China: of course we should understand Chinese history. We should understand that China fought several conflicts with Britain (and other powers, including the United States) in the 19th century, and that this humiliated China. We should ALSO remember that China is itself an empire which conquered peoples and spreads as far as it does, not because Han Chinese people 'naturally' lived in all of those places but that for thousands of years China spread from the Yangze Delta to cover much of the territory it does today. Taiwan, to use an important examples as not originally settled by China (and THOSE people are not the ones who made Taiwan an independent state in the 20th century).
History is complicated, and of course we should seek to understand why China wants to do what it does: but China isn't seeking reparations for wrongs committed nearly two centuries ago, they're seeking to build a world where they can, like a tiger, hunt for prey without American interference.
Legacy, smegacy! The Chinese century of degradation ended in 1949 - when the real Maoist Chinese degradation began ..Mao was ot 70% Google, 30% bad as the party-state avers. He was the greatest mass .murderer in history; apparently, he reveled in this. If it were no for Tiananmen Deng's economic policies, the CCP would have little to show for 73 yrs. of missile. Xi is about to undo all these gains with his hyperauthoritian "reforms". If the West held on to historical misadventures as China does Germany and Japan would be rural Western colonies. China holds on to its grievances for internal propaganda purposes, diverting attention away from China's ongoing failures.IMO, the reason for destroying Taiwan
History has to be looked at in the context of the times with which it occurred. Furthermore , it also has to be balanced against the track record of US support for certain things that Britain did that had US support in the context of the Cold War. I, for one, am sick of these stories saying that we have to apologize for European Empires which happened during an entirely different time and age. Not to mention the US hands are not clean on the subject , as well as the fact that post independence, so many of the former colonies failed miserably.
How quickly you dismiss Churchill resisting Hitler. His voice. His words. Harold Laski, who opposed him , recognized this. You have become a BLAME AMERICA FIRSTER.
Do I recall correctly that it was Fintan O'Toole who wrote that clown analogy? Also, this sentence should be tattooed on the forehead - okay, would require very small font, so maybe forearm? - of anyone purporting to conduct foreign policy: "[U]nderstanding the national memories that shape an adversary’s view of the world is crucial to crafting wise policy toward it."
"...the Queen was a gracious, dignified woman" writes Mr Beinart. I remain to be convinced. Her "lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to change a draft law to exempt her private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions. The exemption meant the Queen was the only private landowner in Scotland who was not required to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy." I'm not sure how that qualifies as gracious and dignified rather than self-serving, secretive and money-grubbing.
The Chinese have the right to exist, but its empire does not. And do you know why? Because the People's Republic of China itself is the legacy of the Qing Empire, a pre-industrial totalitarian empire that seized millions of square kilometres of territory through constant foreign aggression and genocide (the only region that gained independence was Outer Mongolia because the Communist Party needed Soviet support for its creation but no Western "left-wing" parrot blame the Soviet Union for "cutting off" China's Mongolian province). Do you know why there were so many nation states in every part of the old continent and only China was ironclad? Because the entire East Asian world has been the victim of imperialist and colonial aggression by the so-called "Central Empire" for more than two thousand years. The small wars the West fought with China in the 19th century were nothing compared to the skin of thousands of years of Chinese imperialism. The war of Qing Empire's suppressing the Taiping Heaven empire alone was far more bloody and also caused far more death than the 2nd Sino-Japanese war during the WW2. Its policy of re-repression in non-sinizied areas in recent decades is the inevitability of its return to it's historical path of imperialism. If you fail to recognise this grand historical picture and merely parrot the self-serving story like "100years of humiliation" from modern Chinese right-wing nationalists, then you are a retard without an independent brain.
Btw the 2nd Sino-Japan is an imperialist's proxy war, waged by the Soviet under guise of the Communist International in order to destabilize East Asian and render the only independent and self-reliant Asian country Japan an imperial Russia's vassal.
PS: Why are these crabs continuous broadcasting to my email? I never subscribed you.
Very insightful. Years ago I read an article about how most of the present world’s conflicts can be traced back to British policies. It was quite stunning. Refusing to learn from this is inexcusable, and it seems “democracy” and “peace-loving” are more important as rhetorical excuses for aggression than they are actual ideals anyone is trying to achieve. The voice of truth and accepting responsibility for one’s mistakes is seen as a threat to power, whereas it is the only sustainable path to human survival.
My local Koreatown has a creation myth. Decades ago when Korean immigrants first started to settle there it was largely an African American part of town. Understandably there was friction between the old residents and the new immigrants. It was finally settled in a massive brawl. A hundred combatants from each side armed themselves with knives, clubs, baseball bats, etc. and met in an empty parking lot. The Koreans emerged victorious in the melee, routed their opponents and were then able to proceed with buying property and creating businesses unhindered.
The level of rancor between minority groups in the United States may surprise some but why? Koreans and blacks share no common bonds of culture or language. There is no shared experience as recent immigrants for them to fall back on and the socioeconomic gap between Asians and blacks in this country is vast. Given all that isn't conflict the more likely outcome? Absent the bonds of culture, or language, or life experience, what's left? Reverence for the flag? Love of country? A commitment to the melting pot?
The 20th century was the great dying of the British Empire. But tribalism never ceases to be relevant--it is baked into human biology. Andrew Sullivan understands this:
"The Crown represents something from the ancient past, a logically indefensible but emotionally salient symbol of something called a nation, something that gives its members meaning and happiness. However shitty the economy, or awful the prime minister, or ugly the discourse, the monarch is able to represent the nation all the time. In a living, breathing, mortal person."
What can the United States offer up in comparison?
I’m not sure what Peter is suggesting regarding China. Is he a China apologist?
China is a self-serving superpower that has used the West for the last 30+ years for its capital and technology to build itself up, ignoring laws regarding free trade and international patent protections. They have subsidized industries to drive other countries out of business, stolen proprietary secrets while manufacturing, allowed black market knock off products, and more.
And, for a sophisticated country that can land a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon, they are still considered a “developing nation”, and take advantage by ramping up their construction of coal fired plants -- the world be dammed.
Trump had the right idea. They are a manufacturing dependent nation and hitting them back with the same types of tariff protections they use against the world, got their attention. Tightening the noose will lead to more US companies seeking other countries to manufacture goods for them.
I feel your columns are growing dangerously close to anti-Americanism, which is disappointing. The United States is not an empire, and a direct comparison from the British Empire to the United States is ludicrous.
As for "telling the truth about Queen Elizabeth" she was a constitutional monarch. Whether she supported or opposed the decisions of her prime ministers to accelerate decolonization in the '60s, '70s and '80s is immaterial. Her role was to personify the country she fictionally leads. The monarchy is a fiction, and acting like Elizabeth is somehow responsible for actions which occurred before her birth (which is why your example is the Mau Mau Uprising alone) is ridiculous.
Finally on China: of course we should understand Chinese history. We should understand that China fought several conflicts with Britain (and other powers, including the United States) in the 19th century, and that this humiliated China. We should ALSO remember that China is itself an empire which conquered peoples and spreads as far as it does, not because Han Chinese people 'naturally' lived in all of those places but that for thousands of years China spread from the Yangze Delta to cover much of the territory it does today. Taiwan, to use an important examples as not originally settled by China (and THOSE people are not the ones who made Taiwan an independent state in the 20th century).
History is complicated, and of course we should seek to understand why China wants to do what it does: but China isn't seeking reparations for wrongs committed nearly two centuries ago, they're seeking to build a world where they can, like a tiger, hunt for prey without American interference.
Legacy, smegacy! The Chinese century of degradation ended in 1949 - when the real Maoist Chinese degradation began ..Mao was ot 70% Google, 30% bad as the party-state avers. He was the greatest mass .murderer in history; apparently, he reveled in this. If it were no for Tiananmen Deng's economic policies, the CCP would have little to show for 73 yrs. of missile. Xi is about to undo all these gains with his hyperauthoritian "reforms". If the West held on to historical misadventures as China does Germany and Japan would be rural Western colonies. China holds on to its grievances for internal propaganda purposes, diverting attention away from China's ongoing failures.IMO, the reason for destroying Taiwan
History has to be looked at in the context of the times with which it occurred. Furthermore , it also has to be balanced against the track record of US support for certain things that Britain did that had US support in the context of the Cold War. I, for one, am sick of these stories saying that we have to apologize for European Empires which happened during an entirely different time and age. Not to mention the US hands are not clean on the subject , as well as the fact that post independence, so many of the former colonies failed miserably.
How quickly you dismiss Churchill resisting Hitler. His voice. His words. Harold Laski, who opposed him , recognized this. You have become a BLAME AMERICA FIRSTER.
Do I recall correctly that it was Fintan O'Toole who wrote that clown analogy? Also, this sentence should be tattooed on the forehead - okay, would require very small font, so maybe forearm? - of anyone purporting to conduct foreign policy: "[U]nderstanding the national memories that shape an adversary’s view of the world is crucial to crafting wise policy toward it."
"...the Queen was a gracious, dignified woman" writes Mr Beinart. I remain to be convinced. Her "lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to change a draft law to exempt her private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions. The exemption meant the Queen was the only private landowner in Scotland who was not required to facilitate the construction of pipelines to heat buildings using renewable energy." I'm not sure how that qualifies as gracious and dignified rather than self-serving, secretive and money-grubbing.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/27/queen-secret-influence-laws-revealed-scottish-government-memo
The Chinese have the right to exist, but its empire does not. And do you know why? Because the People's Republic of China itself is the legacy of the Qing Empire, a pre-industrial totalitarian empire that seized millions of square kilometres of territory through constant foreign aggression and genocide (the only region that gained independence was Outer Mongolia because the Communist Party needed Soviet support for its creation but no Western "left-wing" parrot blame the Soviet Union for "cutting off" China's Mongolian province). Do you know why there were so many nation states in every part of the old continent and only China was ironclad? Because the entire East Asian world has been the victim of imperialist and colonial aggression by the so-called "Central Empire" for more than two thousand years. The small wars the West fought with China in the 19th century were nothing compared to the skin of thousands of years of Chinese imperialism. The war of Qing Empire's suppressing the Taiping Heaven empire alone was far more bloody and also caused far more death than the 2nd Sino-Japanese war during the WW2. Its policy of re-repression in non-sinizied areas in recent decades is the inevitability of its return to it's historical path of imperialism. If you fail to recognise this grand historical picture and merely parrot the self-serving story like "100years of humiliation" from modern Chinese right-wing nationalists, then you are a retard without an independent brain.
Btw the 2nd Sino-Japan is an imperialist's proxy war, waged by the Soviet under guise of the Communist International in order to destabilize East Asian and render the only independent and self-reliant Asian country Japan an imperial Russia's vassal.
PS: Why are these crabs continuous broadcasting to my email? I never subscribed you.
Very insightful. Years ago I read an article about how most of the present world’s conflicts can be traced back to British policies. It was quite stunning. Refusing to learn from this is inexcusable, and it seems “democracy” and “peace-loving” are more important as rhetorical excuses for aggression than they are actual ideals anyone is trying to achieve. The voice of truth and accepting responsibility for one’s mistakes is seen as a threat to power, whereas it is the only sustainable path to human survival.
There is a time for everything, and your timing is wrong.
My local Koreatown has a creation myth. Decades ago when Korean immigrants first started to settle there it was largely an African American part of town. Understandably there was friction between the old residents and the new immigrants. It was finally settled in a massive brawl. A hundred combatants from each side armed themselves with knives, clubs, baseball bats, etc. and met in an empty parking lot. The Koreans emerged victorious in the melee, routed their opponents and were then able to proceed with buying property and creating businesses unhindered.
The level of rancor between minority groups in the United States may surprise some but why? Koreans and blacks share no common bonds of culture or language. There is no shared experience as recent immigrants for them to fall back on and the socioeconomic gap between Asians and blacks in this country is vast. Given all that isn't conflict the more likely outcome? Absent the bonds of culture, or language, or life experience, what's left? Reverence for the flag? Love of country? A commitment to the melting pot?
The 20th century was the great dying of the British Empire. But tribalism never ceases to be relevant--it is baked into human biology. Andrew Sullivan understands this:
"The Crown represents something from the ancient past, a logically indefensible but emotionally salient symbol of something called a nation, something that gives its members meaning and happiness. However shitty the economy, or awful the prime minister, or ugly the discourse, the monarch is able to represent the nation all the time. In a living, breathing, mortal person."
What can the United States offer up in comparison?
I've always found the statement "the sun never sets on the British Empire" to be pretty disturbing.
Thank you you are speaking for me and you are reflecting an understanding I feel is critical to world peace and the moral health of the United States.
I’m not sure what Peter is suggesting regarding China. Is he a China apologist?
China is a self-serving superpower that has used the West for the last 30+ years for its capital and technology to build itself up, ignoring laws regarding free trade and international patent protections. They have subsidized industries to drive other countries out of business, stolen proprietary secrets while manufacturing, allowed black market knock off products, and more.
And, for a sophisticated country that can land a spacecraft on the dark side of the moon, they are still considered a “developing nation”, and take advantage by ramping up their construction of coal fired plants -- the world be dammed.
Trump had the right idea. They are a manufacturing dependent nation and hitting them back with the same types of tariff protections they use against the world, got their attention. Tightening the noose will lead to more US companies seeking other countries to manufacture goods for them.