tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post546203421335560297..comments2024-03-18T22:32:52.802-04:00Comments on Noahpinion: Niall, the British Empire is over. Accept it.Noah Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-90720111892025653072013-08-29T13:31:50.438-04:002013-08-29T13:31:50.438-04:00This is awesome, except for the conclusion, where ...This is awesome, except for the conclusion, where it seems to me that you give the US credit for eschewing imperialism because of its integrity and ideals. It would be more accurate to say that the US has found it more efficient to own countries than to formally rule them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-11352735935087734902013-03-06T16:03:57.677-05:002013-03-06T16:03:57.677-05:00Well, Niall seems to have jumped the shark a while...Well, Niall seems to have jumped the shark a while ago.<br /><br />But he is correct that we already have an empire for all intents and purposes. Listen to Chalmers Johnson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfJNFSYFmZs&feature=player_embeddedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-48203624686623430562013-01-28T19:10:22.108-05:002013-01-28T19:10:22.108-05:00its nice how you all give a shit who runs your cou...its nice how you all give a shit who runs your country when it makes no difference in the end. and i think america are taking up britains mantle of 'worlds shittiest empire' quite spectacularly. our foreign policy is appauling, and we fund puppet governments (not all of which are democracies)around the world to do what we tell them so as best benefit the people living in america, rather than for thier own people. keep the cost of oil down, sell your natural resources at ludicrous cost, privatise public sectors to american conglomerates, blah blah blah. its pretty much what britain did, but the only people at the end of a tomohawk missile are the people running the countries, not the countries themselves. (and we dont advocate opium) Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-51233978378192700602012-09-27T04:59:25.722-04:002012-09-27T04:59:25.722-04:00Umm "British" historian Niall Ferguson? ...Umm "British" historian Niall Ferguson? I thought when he moved to Harvard he was your problem... <br /><br />Do we have to take him back at some stage?David Wattshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00998852822210579240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-78919009651386231782012-09-26T18:19:23.570-04:002012-09-26T18:19:23.570-04:00Spending on infrastructure is not the same as actu...Spending on infrastructure is not the same as actual infrastructure. And as a portion of the Stim it was not that great. We do not have a trillion in new roads and harbors.<br /><br />Is it really so misguided to judge a candidate at least partly by his faith to his campaign promises? If not, why even ask them what they will do? I understand that they react to events, but what about the post partisan, transparent, globally respected administration has come to pass?<br /><br />I see his administration as doggedly partisan, quite willing to lie and obstruct (see V. Jarrett on embassy attacks, or DOJ on Fast and Furious) and earning the contempt of foes and the mistrust of allies.<br /><br />I liked the guy in the campaign ads of 2008. I am glad I didn't believe the ads.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-49597073485990606412012-09-26T18:10:41.197-04:002012-09-26T18:10:41.197-04:00Absolutely. Nothing is more important than making ...Absolutely. Nothing is more important than making sure Bush is never regarded as a success, even a qualified one.<br /><br />Also, we should keep lambasting the pre-Bush realpolitick idea of just dealing with whatever crappy dictator happened to be in power, 'cause the US doesn't deal with dictators. We should assume that the US always had the option of installing likable democracies in Korea, Vietnam, Latin America,etc.<br /><br />Oh, we should also pretend, I mean remember, that the Arab Spring is a thing of hope and joy, and that any turbulence on the way to a great democracy is just growing pains/cultural differences whatever. Similar shortcomings in Iraq are Bush's fault.<br /><br />On the other hand, if it turns out that the Arab Spring brings too much nastiness and chaos, we must correctly ascribe it to the neocon policies of Bush.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-39873483107629148892012-09-26T03:25:37.418-04:002012-09-26T03:25:37.418-04:00Nicely done. I'm British, can't stand the ...Nicely done. I'm British, can't stand the guy. He's a charlatan. How anyone like that can be a professor at Oxford and Harvard is beyond me.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-86729196634195061572012-09-25T20:37:54.554-04:002012-09-25T20:37:54.554-04:00I linked to your blog from a comment in a Glenn Gr...I linked to your blog from a comment in a Glenn Greenwald article, so imagine my shock when I got to this line:<br /><br />"....We are a Republic, not an Empire, and we always will be."<br /><br />You must be well focused on your studies and not current events, which I suppose you should be, but still, who else besides yourself is included in the 'we' you refer to, because I don't know anyone who doesn't believe the US is an empire - and lots of believe it is becoming a very dangerous, if not (yet) evil, one. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-74272496683561695082012-09-14T11:35:53.808-04:002012-09-14T11:35:53.808-04:00Just following up on the claim that Obama "he...Just following up on the claim that Obama "helped bring about three or more new democracies in the Middle East." Is Obama also responsible for the riots that are now exploding throughout the Middle East, including in some of the alleged new democracies? Just to be clear, I don't think he is, but I also don't think he had much influence over--and certainly should not take credit for--the Arab Spring, whatever that was and whatever the results may turn out to be. Apart from rare direct military actions, US influence in foreign affairs is complicated and difficult to untangle and understand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-24871442604790077572012-09-09T09:57:47.498-04:002012-09-09T09:57:47.498-04:00First, it's "Friedman" not "Fre...First, it's "Friedman" not "Freedman". Second, Milton Friedman, afaik, did not have a British (or Scottish) accent. LFChttp://howlatpluto.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-24236499396942325232012-09-09T09:48:41.510-04:002012-09-09T09:48:41.510-04:00Just b/c Michael Hudson said it doesn't mean i...Just b/c Michael Hudson said it doesn't mean it's right. There was a good deal of discussion about this when Crooked Timber did its symposium on Graeber's 'Debt'. I think the anti-Hudson position won the argument.LFChttp://howlatpluto.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-33208114469380198442012-09-04T05:48:30.918-04:002012-09-04T05:48:30.918-04:00My goodness, I have read so many terribly self-imp...My goodness, I have read so many terribly self-important statements in these comments. I only want to say that I have read a few rebuttals of MR. Ferguson's mysteriously cover-worthy article. I find yours to be informationally equal to any and side splittingly funny. My exact cup of tea...er...coffee.miemystaykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02236835402465511101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-11500650679195405712012-09-02T08:44:55.970-04:002012-09-02T08:44:55.970-04:00Oh, for heaven's sake. Ferguson's a fool,...Oh, for heaven's sake. Ferguson's a fool, but the idea that America isn't an empire is laughable. How many bases do we have around the world? Its true that we're not a territorial Empire in the sense the British Empire was, but that's not what Ferguson's advocating anyway.William Burnsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-88947728633350714842012-08-27T18:37:41.210-04:002012-08-27T18:37:41.210-04:00Naill is Rothschilds official biographer, or Baron...Naill is Rothschilds official biographer, or Baron Jacob Rothschilds confidante of the English Crowns Privy Council. The British Empire is still extant, it has just gone underground. The USA military and Israel military are its biggest fighting wing, having outsourced the defense of the Anglo-American reich to the USA taxpayers with an military of only 80k people in it. As the famous French writer and poet Belloc said, every Jew should be regarded as an Agent of the English empire. That is the reason Obama made a beeline right to the Queen of England and disgraced America by bowing to her. A good daily reading of the Daily Telegraph will disabuse any reader of the naive opinion that the British Empire has disappeared, it is just taken a new name , 'The New World Order'. Prince Charles is on the record as calling himself savior of the world. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-13601825137749949592012-08-26T06:48:46.003-04:002012-08-26T06:48:46.003-04:00There seems to be a typical psychosis which is gui...There seems to be a typical psychosis which is guiding few Brits. They want to be in their past shoe, that is to be identified today as a Super power for their previous position as an Imperial power.<br />Now since they are not, so instead of humbly accepting this fact, they have gone desperate to pretend them-selfs as superpower in the eye of the world. And in the process they are running to toe the shoe of those American who have the tendency of flexing their muscle, so that world can perceive them, if not as a super power then at least as a closest ally of The Super Power.They want to be seen on the same podium as American(particularly when it comes to showcasing power to the world). For this purpose they have owned the role 'sycophantic Yes man' to the Americans. This happened with Tony Blair during Iraq war.<br /><br />What they have achieved in doing so, a loosened credibility in the eye of the world.Someone who is incapable of coming with an independent thought process but will go to lowest level of sycophancy to the toe line US policy, to get a vicarious happiness from the flexing of the American muscle. They have made them-selfs a laughing stock(read joker) in the eye of the world.<br /><br />My advice to British Foreign policy makers to humbly accept the fact that you are not the super power and world will not respect you for simply being the closest cousin of US. Get out of your past. Acquire an independent decision making capability and world will give you respect for both being a super power of the previous world and intelligent good boy of the current world.<br /><br />As for the Niall, I heard he want to get rid of his Brit citizenship because he don't find any intellectual depth in Britain. But definitely resorting to mendacity is not a way to gain intellectual depth in America or anywhere in the world.Lost in Sea- The seafarer!https://www.blogger.com/profile/12133304928257233109noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-16994175077876458592012-08-24T14:58:54.824-04:002012-08-24T14:58:54.824-04:00"helped bring about three or more new democra..."helped bring about three or more new democracies in the Middle East"<br /><br />By supporting Hosni Mubarak? By supporting the crackdown on the Bahraini protests? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-41042379710488015372012-08-23T23:46:57.141-04:002012-08-23T23:46:57.141-04:00"First, I'll just quickly note that the A..."First, I'll just quickly note that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contained substantial funding for infrastructure. So Ferguson, when he says that Obama has not built infrastructure, is simply asserting something that is not true. In the parlance of my generation, he is "spouting BS"."<br /><br />and in the parlance of my generation: you might want to do some more homework, kid.<br /><br />according to your wikipedia link, the arra spent $108 billion on infrastructure. that looks/sounds like a lot to the uneducated eye/ear, but since we need to spend $2.2 trillion on our infrastructure (http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/), ferguson's "Unfortunately the president’s scorecard on every single one of those bold pledges is pitiful" begins to look awfully close to the mark, even if he is an otherwise odious person.hipparchiahttp://correntewire.com/blog/hipparchianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-16405251506321419582012-08-23T17:54:26.076-04:002012-08-23T17:54:26.076-04:00I'm not sure it's fair to attribute most a...I'm not sure it's fair to attribute most actions of people and leaders outside the United States to the President of the United States. If Obama "helped bring about three or more new democracies in the Middle East," did he also help bring about the corrupt re-election of Putin and the conviction of Pussy Riot? Did he help bring about Rafael Correa's crackdown on opposition media or Argentina's nationalization of a Spanish oil company? The impeachment of Paraguay's president? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-23826701548850048472012-08-23T14:00:45.586-04:002012-08-23T14:00:45.586-04:0090% of all the problems in the world can be traced...90% of all the problems in the world can be traced back to western imperialism. The rise of the US, arguably, broke the cycle of intervention, oppression, and upheaval. Niall Ferguson wants to return to it.Matthew Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10254244795963585737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-67082672147650722162012-08-23T10:20:48.316-04:002012-08-23T10:20:48.316-04:00Would love to see you or any of Mother Krugman'...Would love to see you or any of Mother Krugman's little children turn the critical lens on Obama one of these days.<br /><br />The fact that you consider yourself critics, and come to the defense of the most powerful man in the world at the slightest drop of criticism from an opposing thinker is pretty weak.<br /><br />I like your blog, but it's hard to stomach how in the pocket you are for the Democratic party. <br /><br />A real thinker can smash idols...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-58104563522367061202012-08-23T03:07:04.683-04:002012-08-23T03:07:04.683-04:00Love your post - Niall Ferguson is a bigot, a fant...Love your post - Niall Ferguson is a bigot, a fantasist and a liar. His unequivocal pro-Empire stance is sick. I say that as someone from a country where 20% of the population was wiped out by starvation and disease in the 1800s thanks to the British Empire. <br /><br />Unfortunately though, there are some Americans who do agree with Niall on his imperialist tendencies - Dick Cheney, John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld?? All of them believe in using American military might to go out there and take what they need from 'lesser' peoples. It's a different kind of imperialist concept to Niall's wet dream of British jingoism and jolly hockey sticks but it's still an imperialist vision. <br /><br />Otherwise though, yes, the average American has no truck with Empire or any mass statist enterprise that chokes off individualism. Even the Tea Party would agree with that.<br /><br />And for the person upthread who pointed out the weirdness of him saying 'we' in referring to the elections when he's British and can't vote: yes, in theory he is British. But in his tiny head, he is actually American. He doesn't want to inconvenience himself with applying for citizenship or any of that boring stuff. He just wants to have a bigger global platform for his views so hijacking American politics and masquerading as an expert is an easy way for him to do that. SuilNuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07943678024159337078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-27677204779221225272012-08-22T20:01:29.890-04:002012-08-22T20:01:29.890-04:00It is easy to understand why Fergusson thinks that...It is easy to understand why Fergusson thinks that the US has imperial qualities and ambitions. For some reason Noah takes Vietnam and Iraq as evidence of it lacking such ambitions. I think the rest of the world interprets these events as evidence for the exact opposite. <br /><br />Fergusson is a right wing hack; a second rate thinker; but a decent writer. That he is a Professor at Harvard is a reflection of his political usefulness not the quality of his academic research. I feel like Harvard has a fair few of these on the books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-88458174624224351692012-08-22T17:01:55.389-04:002012-08-22T17:01:55.389-04:00I really don't think it's fair to lay the ...I really don't think it's fair to lay the blame for Niall Ferguson on the British Empire (what's left of it) He left our shores, so he says, because our appreciation for his talents was inadequate<br /><br />If the US media and academia are suckers for an English or Scottish accent and a smooth line in patter, whose fault is that?PeterAtJEThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09024270637336739484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-21683909393153864442012-08-22T09:56:59.938-04:002012-08-22T09:56:59.938-04:00I'm sure by the American's not being imper...I'm sure by the American's not being imperialistic, you are referring to modern public opinion, because for most of our history we've been aggressively imperialistic, e.g. westward expansion a la manifest destiny, the Mexican War, the Spanish American War and the conquest of the Phillipeans, Cuba, Pacific military bases, Korea, Cold War puppet dictators, occupying Germany and Japan, etc.<br /><br />Ferguson's book Colossus actually argues that the American's who realize we have empires are the ones who disapprove of the fact, while those who bander patriotic denial actually support imperialistic adventures (Iraq, spreading democracy, etc.). I think he actually made a good point there, at least for Bush era American popular opinion. Plenty of (right wing) Americans want (or at least wanted) empire, they just don't see it as empire. His conclusion was in fact that America is an empire and that that could be a good thing, but his... interesting... value judgements aside he does a pretty good job writing about how America is imperialistic. I totally agree that his forays into neo-con politics are laughable, but he's actually pretty good as a pop historian telling the (historical) narrative of empire.<br /><br />p.s. love the blog subtitle!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-24651616848251710342012-08-22T09:32:23.023-04:002012-08-22T09:32:23.023-04:00Great post on Ferguson, and also glad to see you&#...Great post on Ferguson, and also glad to see you're grudgingly coming round to the unavoidable truth that the US is an imperial power. Look at the history of intervention and the globe-spanning network of military bases (the latter documented by Chalmers Johnson in The Sorrows of, er, Empire). As for most Americans not supporting imperial conquest - may well be, but from the outside there's no sign of a serious political movement that supports de-imperialisation, ie closing bases, bringing troops home etc. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com