The Empire strikes back
The Cameron visit reflected realities, but we must not forget imperial barbarity: never again!
The recent India visit of UK's prime minister David Cameron got less attention than it deserved. Cameron was clear that his intent was to build up business ties, reflecting the relative importance of the UK and India in the global economy. Cameron was explicit that he was speaking to India on equal terms; some might even say, to be dramatic, that he was a supplicant with a begging-bowl.
Cameron also made a statement about Pakistan's role in terrorism in the Indian subcontinent, which, to any impartial observer, was justified by the evidence, especially the recent uncovering of 92,000 secret US Army documents. Cameron merely observed that Pakistan must be not be allowed to, well, speak with forked tongue, and export terror, which it seems to do quite happily today.
Besides, India refused to even talk of British poverty-reduction aid. But what was more interesting was the reaction of the British media to what they perceived as the humiliation of the British nation when it has to beseech India to increase trade with it.
India is waxing, and the UK waning. India's economy will overtake the British economy even in nominal (it already has in PPP) terms soon. I have asked a number of Britons what exactly their core competence is – and the inevitable answer is "financial services". Yes, that makes sense, because after all Britain manufactures practically nothing anybody else wants.
Britain has come full circle in that regard. When they appeared at the imperial Chinese court circa 1750, seeking trade, the Chinese told them they needed nothing of British origin. Of course, thereupon clever Brits introduced opium, which did make the addicted Chinese open up their purse-strings. Which opium (or in Marx's terminology, opiate), I wonder, do the Brits have in mind now for India?
Intriguingly "financial services" is a euphemism for "the interest earned on the money we looted from your country". I did a little accounting of the systematic loot by Britain, based on estimates by contemporary scholars such as William Digby and Dadabhai Navroji, and later historians. The number is astronomical, not less than $1 trillion, and possibly as much as $10 trillion in today's money. For comparison, US GDP is about $13 trillion. They don't have much else: they have even pawned the East India Company and other family jewels. Hard times, indeed.
3 comments:
But for the British, the Muslim population on our sub-continent would have been larger.
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You don't know your history.
At the beginning of 18th century Muslims were only about 15% of Akhand Bharat, it was after the British took power that Hindus cut down on having kids where as the Muslims did, that's what made them 23% by 1947.
When the British came Muslim power was all but gone except in small pockets and even they were paying tribute to the Marathas.
The main wars the Brits fought for control of India were against the Marathas, Sikhs and Jats not Muslims.
So stop perpetuating this myth of the British saving us from Muslims.
ditto for another nation facing ruin by paper money and banksters' cartel e.g. Ireland.
-->and the inevitable answer is "financial services"
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