Empires tend to fail when the centers of power become self-absorbed in political struggles while the prosperity and security of the imperial lands decline.
Britain's government is in disarray, each minister seems to have his own agenda as the prime minister faces rebels on all sides because she committed the cardinal sin of losing her majority and her authority. Her lack of courage and inability to face up to the popular verdict (and resign for such a botched job) speaks loudly of the Tories moral bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Labour is just as craven with a crazy leader who says that the answer is socialism (it was such a success in the 1970s...), who failed to support Europe last year (because at heart he's as much of an anti-European as is Theresa May), and has proven to be an even worse potential leader than Theresa May is an actual one.
The story gets more complicated with Catalonia and Italy getting in the game too. That's what's got the German so worried, because if the UK, Italy, and Catalonia all rebel then the future of a united Europe is in jeopardy! The ham fisted why in which the Spanish government dealt with the Catalonia referendum means that Madrid has lost the high ground -- to say that the Catalonians don't have a mandate because of poor turnout (when the Spanish police actively discouraged Catalonians from voting even resorting to violence, lost them all moral authority). They may win because so far Catalonia is not (a) ready to take arms (peaceful exits are rare), and (b) virtually nobody is supporting their move for independence (excluding my very own -- Parti Quebecois -- another bunch of morons), mainly because no one can figure out what that would mean in the context of a federated Europe.
In America you get a sense that those participating are seeking, in plain sight, to maximize their personal benefits -- just yesterday the IRS had no problem allowing the deduction of pen and papers for companies but didn't want this to remain for teachers that were buying school supplies for their students...it’s mean, it’s cheap and it reeks of a corporatist view of the world where companies are “more equal” than individuals in the eye of the IRS. Another, it was revealed this morning that the wealth of just three Americans is equal to that of the bottom 175 million -- and that the guys on top are still complaining of the unfairness of the whole thing.
Empire, are borne grow and die, nothing in the world makes them permanent, despite our best wishes. Already we see the lack of dynamism, the desire to protect specific interests -- against the common good, the willingness to take away from the mass to give to the richest segment of society, a group that has benefited the most from the economic expansion of the past 30 years. Years ago, the vision of the world was that America would dominate for the foreseeable future, an open and generous economy. No more, today enhanced security, additional questioning of those visiting, the closed border, higher walls, are the new reality of an intellectually incurious America (80% of Americans believe in angels -- 30% believe in UFOs), yet they don't believe in climate change despite the plain to see evidence, and that 99 out a 100 scientist agree that climate change is man-made.
At first, I thought that all these Americans were racists, it's not the case. They view their world as a finite pie, and that any new participants will reduce their portion. I saw that years ago among my American socialist friends, who were against economic development -- because they viewed the pie as being finite in size. I expect intolerance vis-a-vis other religions (it's starting with the Muslims bit it will escalate to others) are looking for excuse to exclude others -- skin color was first, but already you are seeing a lot of "[insert name here]" comments (the "[]"brackets is used when talking about a Jewish person on the net -- I wish I was joking but I've seen it a number of times now). Excluding others is the vision of the end of empire -- you view the world through a panicked lenses and where the resources are dwindling.
The rise of China is not a coincidence, it’s the next empire that is slowly building up. You just visit China these days to see a vibrant mercantilist economy that has hyper-competitive battles for the heart, soul, and pocketbook of the Chinese consumer. China doesn't have to look to America anymore, it can do things itself and export its own concept of Empire.
By the way, I don't blame Trump for this. He's just the natural progression from Reagan, to Bush to Bush Jr and now to Trump. Let's not forget that the other "7 dwarfs" running for the GOP nomination were pale copies of Trump, but that they didn't disagree with Trump. I don't think that the Democrats covered themselves in glory with Hillary, but don't forget that here opponent was Sanders -- an Independent until two weeks before running for the Democratic nomination. Who comes from America's most "white" state of all that represents probably the less diverse segment of America. These are the people who ran for the highest office -- a sad indictment of America
Such is life
(E. Gibbson)
In Europe, things are getting interesting. Theresa May’s government showed her true collar when a letter (email?) was made public in which Boris Johnson, her Secretary of State indicated how the UK could initiate a “hard exit” instead of a negotiated exit – that everyone in the UK expects. Germany is less and less amused, it has figured out that (a) it would be a sucker’s bet, (b) that the UK leaving Europe is generally a bad idea -- therefore to be discouraged, and (c) that the UK is giving ideas to the Italians and Catalans.Britain's government is in disarray, each minister seems to have his own agenda as the prime minister faces rebels on all sides because she committed the cardinal sin of losing her majority and her authority. Her lack of courage and inability to face up to the popular verdict (and resign for such a botched job) speaks loudly of the Tories moral bankruptcy. Unfortunately, Labour is just as craven with a crazy leader who says that the answer is socialism (it was such a success in the 1970s...), who failed to support Europe last year (because at heart he's as much of an anti-European as is Theresa May), and has proven to be an even worse potential leader than Theresa May is an actual one.
The story gets more complicated with Catalonia and Italy getting in the game too. That's what's got the German so worried, because if the UK, Italy, and Catalonia all rebel then the future of a united Europe is in jeopardy! The ham fisted why in which the Spanish government dealt with the Catalonia referendum means that Madrid has lost the high ground -- to say that the Catalonians don't have a mandate because of poor turnout (when the Spanish police actively discouraged Catalonians from voting even resorting to violence, lost them all moral authority). They may win because so far Catalonia is not (a) ready to take arms (peaceful exits are rare), and (b) virtually nobody is supporting their move for independence (excluding my very own -- Parti Quebecois -- another bunch of morons), mainly because no one can figure out what that would mean in the context of a federated Europe.
In America you get a sense that those participating are seeking, in plain sight, to maximize their personal benefits -- just yesterday the IRS had no problem allowing the deduction of pen and papers for companies but didn't want this to remain for teachers that were buying school supplies for their students...it’s mean, it’s cheap and it reeks of a corporatist view of the world where companies are “more equal” than individuals in the eye of the IRS. Another, it was revealed this morning that the wealth of just three Americans is equal to that of the bottom 175 million -- and that the guys on top are still complaining of the unfairness of the whole thing.
Empire, are borne grow and die, nothing in the world makes them permanent, despite our best wishes. Already we see the lack of dynamism, the desire to protect specific interests -- against the common good, the willingness to take away from the mass to give to the richest segment of society, a group that has benefited the most from the economic expansion of the past 30 years. Years ago, the vision of the world was that America would dominate for the foreseeable future, an open and generous economy. No more, today enhanced security, additional questioning of those visiting, the closed border, higher walls, are the new reality of an intellectually incurious America (80% of Americans believe in angels -- 30% believe in UFOs), yet they don't believe in climate change despite the plain to see evidence, and that 99 out a 100 scientist agree that climate change is man-made.
At first, I thought that all these Americans were racists, it's not the case. They view their world as a finite pie, and that any new participants will reduce their portion. I saw that years ago among my American socialist friends, who were against economic development -- because they viewed the pie as being finite in size. I expect intolerance vis-a-vis other religions (it's starting with the Muslims bit it will escalate to others) are looking for excuse to exclude others -- skin color was first, but already you are seeing a lot of "[insert name here]" comments (the "[]"brackets is used when talking about a Jewish person on the net -- I wish I was joking but I've seen it a number of times now). Excluding others is the vision of the end of empire -- you view the world through a panicked lenses and where the resources are dwindling.
The rise of China is not a coincidence, it’s the next empire that is slowly building up. You just visit China these days to see a vibrant mercantilist economy that has hyper-competitive battles for the heart, soul, and pocketbook of the Chinese consumer. China doesn't have to look to America anymore, it can do things itself and export its own concept of Empire.
By the way, I don't blame Trump for this. He's just the natural progression from Reagan, to Bush to Bush Jr and now to Trump. Let's not forget that the other "7 dwarfs" running for the GOP nomination were pale copies of Trump, but that they didn't disagree with Trump. I don't think that the Democrats covered themselves in glory with Hillary, but don't forget that here opponent was Sanders -- an Independent until two weeks before running for the Democratic nomination. Who comes from America's most "white" state of all that represents probably the less diverse segment of America. These are the people who ran for the highest office -- a sad indictment of America
Such is life
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