Staying The Course. Not

[poliphilo]

It has been noted that president Bush is no longer using that mantra about staying the course in Iraq. Last night I saw a clip from a news conference where a White House spokesman acknowledged this and said it was because the mantra was being "misunderstood".

Tony Blair is still saying that Britain will stand firm until the job is done- whatever that means. I guess he hasn't received his orders yet. 

It would be nice to think that Iraq was the last colonial adventure- that the Western powers will have learned  that it's no longer in their power (if indeed it ever was) to march into countries they barely understand and sort them out.

I'm not going to argue the pros and cons of Imperialism. I'm not sure I could, anyway. I have all sorts of conflicting ideas. 

The point is that that phase of human history is over. It ended fifty years ago. The Empires have been dismantled, The colonial wars have  been lost. 

It's time for the White Man to put down his self-appointed burden, sit on his hands and mind his own business.

Comments

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

I don't think that the war in Iraq corresponds well to imperialism or colonialism. Both systems had as their goal the exploitation of resources within a mercantilist system; not even Hong Kong (a colony de jure) really fit the description of a colony-re-colonialism after the policy of positive non-intervention.

I do agree that the entire system is largely dead; international trade has pretty much taken over because the benefits of colonization had more to do with hostilities between colonizers that disappeared with ECM and Atlantic-Pacific trade zones.

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

Also, this on the same general subject.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Maybe we don't have an entirely apposite label for the Iraq adventure. Would neo-imperialist cut the mustard?

[airstrip.livejournal.com]

I think "imperialist" in the Kipling-esque mode is appropriate: it's largely a paternalistic venture intent on civilizing the savages and so forth.

"Neo-imperialism" insofar as it is related to real "cultural imperialism" is probably something along those lines: the rebuilding of nations in the image one's own and thereby extending "cultural territory" if not reaping economic rewards.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I have some sympathy with Kipling's vision of Empire. There's a certain nobility about it. The trouble is it's no longer practical politics.