Keith said, I think he's dead wrong about America being an Imperial Power. In the Middle East, America is just trying to look after itself and its future oil supplies.
arthur And what was Britain doing all those years as an Imperial Power. Looking after others??? -----Original Message----- From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2003 4:29 PM To: Ed Weick Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: US not an Empire (was Re: [Futurework] Will Bush become a Shia Moslem? Glass half-full or glass half empty? Ed, At 16:11 30/08/2003 -0400, you wrote: >Lawry, I don't think that the US has the luxury of admitting that it made a >mistake. Whether it did so or not, it would remain in the very >uncomfortable position of being the prime terrorist target. We mustn't >forget that Sept. 11, 2001 happened before the US wars on Afghanistan and >Iraq. A great many people were already very angry at the US before those >wars and are far angrier now. What the US has to do is sit on both >countries until they are pacified and fixed up, and especially Iraq. It has >to demonstrate that it meant and business and continues to mean it. It may >take a long time and it may cost a lot of money, but that is what it has to >do. No matter what spin it puts on things, It can't just walk out saying >"Ooops, sorry, we didn't mean that". > >Niall Ferguson is a British historian who has recently published a book >called "Empire". I haven't read the book, but I saw him interviewed on TV. >His main argument there was that the US is now an empire much like Britain >was in the 19th Century. The difference is that Britain behaved like an >empire and stayed in places like India long enough to bring about a genuine >transition toward a more democratic and egalatarian system. He doubted that >the US has the staying power to do so. Niall Ferguson is, in my opinion, a brilliant historian and a Prof at both Oxord and somewhere in America. I have three of his books on my shelves. He also produced a brilliant BBC series recently on the British Empire. However, I think he's dead wrong about America being an Imperial Power. In the Middle East, America is just trying to look after itself and its future oil supplies. However, this is a far stronger motivation than any amount of empire building and can lead to far greater follies. KSH Keith Hudson, 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org> _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
