The weapon was opium, the pretext was trade and the political strategy was divide and rule. Capitalism came much later.
Henry
Rkmickey at aol.com wrote:
> Doug wrote:
>
> >Anyone know how British imperialism represented itself? Did it wear a
> >"humanitarian" cloak, or is this a specifically American (moralizing)
> >style? Was it more honest about "straight power concepts," as Kennan put it
> >in that infamous memo?
>
> Try Kipling:
>
> Take up the White Man's burden--
> Send forth the best ye breed--
> Go, bind your sons to exile.
> To serve your captives' need;
> To wait in heavy harness
> On fluttered folk and wild--
> Your new-caught , sullen peoples,
> Half -devil and half-child.
>
> (snip)
> Take up the White Man's burden--
> And reap his old reward:
> The blame of those ye better,
> The hate of those ye guard.
>
> .............
>
> And more prosaically even today, just watch how the Brits act like the Ulster
> problem is all to do with the warring tribes in Ireland, not with the British
> presence itself.
>
> K. Mickey