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http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all
And the India connection?
Quote
In a speech he wrote in 1942 but never delivered, Churchill insisted that the “broad, shining, liberating and liberalizing tides of the Victorian era” had ended the “wicked and brazen” ways of old, so that “the exploitation of weaker and less well-armed peoples became odious, together with the idea of subject races.” For Indians, in hindsight, he believed, British rule “might well be the age of the Antonines.” Those last words echoed Gibbon, whom he had read as a young officer in India so many years before.
A couple of things about that. He wrote this in 42, when things were getting better in the War and he had his eyes on his memoirs and the like. Never underestimate a Tory's ability to stoop down for a shilling when they can get the chance. And it certainly was not enlightenment and all peance and freance; The above are his words but his actions till Independence was all obstructionist. And Africa continued to be subjugated long after that....
And the age of Antonines? A subservient,poor and weak colony compared to Rome's best times? What are these guys smoking?
Of course, I fully agree that the viewpoint is not from the subjugated but from the victors.
Lastly, if you thought Bush was the stupidest guy on earth......
It takes some "intelligence" to lose OZ, Americas, NZ populated with "fellow whites" even after the riff raff(of the Empire days, the crooks, cheats, and the poor huddled masses) expressed willingness to be governed by Empire. A quick historical perusal shows that instead of handling legitimate issues brought on by the colonial subjects, the imperious dismissal of them all by WhiteHall.... Entire continents were lost!
Imagine.
Throw the underclass some bones, they'd happily be subservient. Instead, Armies and Navies go, Cornwallis, Washington "meet" and history is made. The first "Gitmo", Australia, a land of unprecedent mineral wealth enough to sustain Empire for centuries, lost.
How can Bush top that?
*just saw the news of Citibank tanking; might have to eat some crow.
