NM's blog

A good article since I have just started to know Malaysia. To understand the current situation in Malaysia we need a brief overview of the history and political and economic development of the country.  —————- A footnote “The Malayan Communist Party was recognised by the British post-World War II, with its leader Chin Peng receiving the Order of the British Empire in London.” Why and how? Were not the British anti-Communists? The seemingly paradoxical alliance between the fiercely anti-communist British Empire and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was a marriage of convenience dictated by the extreme pragmatism of  World War II . The British recognized the MCP and awarded its leader,  Chin Peng , the Order of the British Empire (OBE) because, between 1941 and 1945,  the British and the communists shared a single, existential enemy:  Imperial Japan .  [1, 2, 3]  Why the British Allied with the Communists When the Japanese invaded Malaya in December 194...

According to US liberals,   Trump's imperialism is ugly, whereas Biden's is 'kinder and gentler' with moral authority.

Au lieu de a book In one sense, there is nothing extraordinary about this Zionist brutality. It is not, in its geo-political structure, very different from other imperialisms with which it shared during the 19th and 20th centuries. Of course Israel came to play a unique role in the world: its colon status on behalf of England and the United States marked a considerable aspect of its future course. But in its sense of entitlement to the land, resources and lives of another people, it merely replicated the horror of European and even American assumptions of superiority and secularized “divine right.” Crimes and state terror committed by the British and American imperialisms, the Zionist organisations, the ‘United Nations’ and the state of Israel

A review of the play Falklands Sound

A very interesting review. The review too, I think, stops short at determining the cause(s) of imperialism. He does not identify the cause of power. “Power is the axis upon which the imperial machine turns and under which its various tentacles are subsumed. It is the means by which imperialists consolidate their near total control and domination of the lives of the imperialized. Kohli does discuss power in his analysis of imperialism, indeed, pointing out that, ‘Britain used its power superiority to build both a formal and informal empire’ (6); and ‘Force was used periodically to establish and maintain these economic interactions…’ (142). Also, ‘The use of coercion is especially significant for assessing a relationship as imperial’ (392). But so strong is the emphasis on motives (economic interest) that the significance of the concept of power or coercion is lost within the historical narrative. Indeed, in the case of the US, Kohli talks about ‘surplus power.’ We shall return to this ...

I think ‘Western imperialism’ in the title is an overstretch. The article does not deal with Western imperialism. Nor does it mention economic imperialism. “Starmer’s flame-war against the left has become so extreme that, as some critics have pointed out, both Pope Francis and Amnesty International would face expulsion from Starmer’s Labour Party were they members. ”

Take up the White Man’s burden– Send forth the best ye breed– Go, bind your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need; On fluttered folk and wild– Your new-caught sullen peoples, Half devil and half child. – Kipling, “The White Man’s Burden” Kipling and British imperialism

 When the Read Flag flew over Iran