Posted on 08/10/2006 10:57:20 PM PDT by HAL9000
NEW DELHI -- The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi warned Friday that foreign militants, possibly al-Qaida members, may be planning to carry out bombings in India's two major cities in the coming days.In an e-mail sent to American citizens living in India, the embassy said New Delhi, the capital, and Bombay, the country's financial and entertainment hub, were the likely targets, and the attacks were believed to be planned for either before or on India's Independence Day, Aug. 15.
The embassy confirmed that it had sent the e-mail, although Indian officials refused to comment on the warning.
Foxnews.com:
"The Bank of England said it had frozen the accounts of 19 people arrested Thursday. The men, ranging in age from 17 to 35, had names of Muslim origin, many of which are common in Pakistan."
Hey, maybe we can get the money donated to the IDF to pay for more strikes in southern Lebanon on the Hezzies.
Fits the profile exactly for racial profiling. What are we waiting for?
....that the Allies won WWI and WWII. British colonization sowed the seeds of rule of law and individual liberty in America, India, Australia, etc.
Compared to the rapage and pillage of French/Spanish other colonial powers, Britain created the only friends we have in this world through their seapower.
That -we- aren't utilizing our superpower status in the 21st century as well as the British did says more about us than it does about 18th century British Imperialism.
I didn't know British India had rule of law and individual liberty. The rule of law and individual liberty that you witness in India was created and sustained by INDEPENDENT INDIA. You dont see the same in other British colonies such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and large parts of Africa.
"That -we- aren't utilizing our superpower status in the 21st century as well as the British did says more about us than it does about 18th century British Imperialism."
The Brits did it for the purpose of enslaving and exploiting her colonies and sucking it dry. Not for spreading democracy, liberty or rule of law. Among its great achievements, Britain has left behind a legacy of creating a hunger holocaust that killed 10 million people in several man made famines in Bengal. At least America has no such claim to fame.
One of the benefits of "colonization" as I understand, is that the Islamic tumor was removed from mainstream India in the form of Pakistan. May not have been a surgically precise job but it did save India a lot of headache.
INDEPENDENT INDIA as you so screamed did not just pop up with the ideas of democracy from their Asian history.
India was on the road to being just as broken and poor as Bangladesh (or East Pakistan for you) had the British not influenced it.
Facts are facts. French and Spanish and other European Imperialism left a complete wake of squalor and chaos from the plunder of natural resources, etc.
But the resultant civilization in Singapore, Hong Kong, United States, Canada, Australia and yes, India are a stark contrast to Vietnam or Guayana, even compared to Sierra Leone.
And I'll put the Islam-infested civilization in Pakistan that just helped the British thwart the recent AQ attack against Islam-infested ALGERIA, for example, any day of the week.
Here's an interesting blog I googled for ya....
What you say is true. Don't have time to join in, but Britain's colonization was for her enrichment, to the great detriment of India.
Sure 'foreign' colonization was ugly. Sure, the internecine wars of conquest between 'native American' Maya etal were bloody and terminal, too.
If I understand you correctly, it seems that you believe British colonialism is worse or no better than any other imperialism, whil I believe that there is a recognizable difference, and indeed, the coincidence and contrast of the resultant prosperity and freedom is interestingly correlated with which evil power you had the luck to be colonized by...
| Parent | Colony | GDP per Capita | Freedom (1=free, 5+ = not free |
| GB | United States | 37.8 | 1 |
| GB | Bermuda | 36 | 1 |
| FR | Louisiana | 33.3 | 1 |
| FR | Quebec | 30.5 | 1 |
| US | Alaska | 30.1 | 1 |
| GB | Canada | 29.7 | 1 |
| GB | Australia | 28.9 | 1 |
| GB | Hong Kong | 28.7 | 1 |
| US | Hawaii | 28.2 | 1 |
| GB | New Zealand | 21.6 | 1 |
| GB | Malta | 17.7 | 1 |
| GB | Bahamas | 16.8 | 1 |
| GB | Barbados | 16.2 | 1 |
| GB | Cyprus | 16 | 1 |
| US | Virgin Islands | 19 | 1.5 |
| GB | British Virgin Is. | 16 | 1.5 |
| GB | South Africa | 10.7 | 1.5 |
| GB | Grenada | 5 | 1.5 |
| GB | Israel | 19.7 | 2 |
| FR | Mexico | 9 | 2 |
| GB | Botswana | 8.8 | 2 |
| GB | Ghana | 2.2 | 2 |
| FR | Mali | 0.9 | 2 |
| US | Philippines | 4.6 | 2.5 |
| GB | Jamaica | 3.8 | 2.5 |
| GB | Lesotho | 3 | 2.5 |
| GB | India | 2.9 | 2.5 |
| FR | Senegal | 1.6 | 2.5 |
| GB | Antigua & Barbuda | 11 | 3 |
| FR | Seychelles | 7.8 | 3 |
| GB | Sri Lanka | 3.7 | 3 |
| GB | Kenya | 1 | 3 |
| FR | Madagascar | 0.8 | 3 |
| FR | Fiji | 5.8 | 3.5 |
| FR | Burkina Faso | 1.1 | 4 |
| FR | Niger | 0.8 | 4 |
| GB | Nigeria | 0.8 | 4 |
| GB | Zambia | 0.8 | 4 |
| GB | Singapore | 23.7 | 4.5 |
| GB | Malaysia | 9 | 4.5 |
| FR | Gabon | 5.5 | 4.5 |
| GB | Uganda | 1.4 | 4.5 |
| FR | Morocco | 4 | 5 |
| FR | Djibouti | 1.3 | 5 |
| GB | Brunei | 18.6 | 5.5 |
| FR | Tunisia | 6.9 | 5.5 |
| FR | Algeria | 5.9 | 5.5 |
| FR | Mauritania | 1.8 | 5.5 |
| FR | Cambodia | 1.7 | 5.5 |
| FR | Togo | 1.5 | 5.5 |
| FR | Chad | 1.2 | 5.5 |
| GB | Swaziland | 4.9 | 6 |
| GB | Egypt | 3.9 | 6 |
| GB | Zimbabwe | 1.9 | 6 |
| FR | Haiti | 1.6 | 6 |
| FR | Central African Rep, | 1.2 | 6 |
| FR | Congo | 0.7 | 6 |
| FR | Vietnam | 2.5 | 6.5 |
| FR | Laos | 1.7 | 6.5 |
| GB | Sudan | 1.1 | 7 |
| GB | Cayman Islands | 35 | NR |
| GB | Falklands | 25 | NR |
| FR | French Polynesia | 17.5 | NR |
| GB | Gibraltar | 17.5 | NR |
| US | Puerto Rico | 16.8 | NR |
| FR | Martinique | 14.4 | NR |
| FR | French Guiana | 8.3 | NR |
| US | American Samoa | 8 | NR |
| FR | Montserrat | 3.4 | NR |
"India was on the road to being just as broken and poor as Bangladesh (or East Pakistan for you) had the British not influenced it. "
How so? To me it sound like a very silly comment thats without British enslavement we would never have succeeded in anything. What evidence you have to prove that?
to the great detriment of India...as compared to what?
As compared to the perpetually un-industrialized path it was on? As opposed to annexation by some other imperial power?
This sound like the Communist argument that the workers are exploited by the factories instead of sharecropping or some other alternative for unskilled labor.
Please address the table in Post 31.
I am not minimizing the pain caused by colonization. I am pointing out that India was lucky to go through the pain of British colonization instead of Chinese, French or who knows what.
Of course nobody can say what India would be today otherwise, but it is impossible to get around the fact that it is far and away better off than if it were infected by the French
The reality was that British Empire was only a shade better then Nazi Germany.
Except that the result of one leads the world in freedom and prosperity, and the other was defeated in WWII and re-colonized by ex-British colonies.
"as compared to what?"
As compared to..... not being colonized. Duh!
"As compared to the perpetually un-industrialized path it was on?"
How do you assume it would have remained "un-industrialized". Even Japan, Germany, Italy, Russia and the US were "un-industrialized" in the period prior to the British colonisation of India and embarked on industrialisation quite late. Far later than England, France, Spain or Portugal.
"Of course nobody can say what India would be today otherwise, but it is impossible to get around the fact that it is far and away better off than if it were infected by the French"
I dont know of any French colonies that had anything close to the Irish famines or a far more devastating Bengal famine that on sheer human scale dwarfs Stalin's reign of terror or equals Mao's cultural revolution.
"Except that the result of one leads the world in freedom and prosperity, and the other was defeated in WWII and re-colonized by ex-British colonies."
Thats the only difference. Germany lost and Britain won (albiet with large number of soldiers from India to do the fighting and dying)......and then Britain wrote her own version of history for your consumption.
Just letting results speak for themselves.
Either:
A - India was strong enough to defend herself and evolve on its own as a world player
-or-
B - India was susceptible to forced colonization (rape, pillage, etc) and she was damn lucky that the British Empire was there other than some other conquerer.
Again, as you point out with Japan, Germany, Italy, Russia....better for freedom and prosperity to be manhandled by Britain or British ex-colonies than otherwise.
India certainly had a longer history of civilization than England. So how is it that a sh!tty little island in a frigid sea hopped all over the world and was able to beat India down to Ethipoian stature?
Easy...The Brits latched on the fact that most Indians would sell their own mother for profit...rest is history. BTW, India was the richest nation on Earth prior to the Brit take-over. Then the riches started flowing to the England.
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