- Joined
- May 8, 2018
- Location
- south east england
The Commonwealth as it is known today is only about a century old, so you don't need to go back to the old empire stuff. Did you study the history why the British Commonwealth was created (not just to replace the name British Empire)? What I can tell you is that the UK is still benefiting today from the original treaty, although in a watered-down grade due to the follow-up treaties that were signed.
Germany was never a colonial power, however, they were responsible for the two worst wars in our history. Nobody says though..... "oh we can't go over the old WW stuff now"..... your parades in the UK every year are a clear sign that there are many people who can't, rightly so, just forget it.
I might have to remind you that some of the largest companies today were founded during the 19th and early 20th century. So they just continued to exploit the "third world" in the imperialistic way they did during the colonial times. The difference is that are paying them a few bread crumbs. That has not stopped until today and never will completely, and surely is not limited to the EU. Lately, there are some single projects and initiatives here or there, but nothing that would make up for the losses those countries suffered over centuries.
What you can't absolve the UK off is the misery you brought to those countries (neither can Spain, the Netherlands, France and Portugal). The forced wealth transfer from the colonies was astronomical if you calculate it in today's money. That is just as much a historical fact as Germany being the perpetrator for the two biggest wars and some of the worst human atrocities. You simply can't eradicate history.
According to wikipedia:
"Short-lived attempts of colonization by
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had occurred in preceding centuries, but crucial colonial efforts only began in 1884 with the
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. Claiming much of the left-over uncolonized areas in the
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, Germany managed to build the third largest
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at the time, after the
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and
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"I think you and chopley are missing my original point, preferring to instead go over old ground about the cruelties of the past. Probably every european country has made a lot of wealth via unsavoury methods, I think the netherlands had a lot to do with diamond mining etc..I think belgium had an empire, spain had something to do with the philippines, then there were the opium wars with china and the boxer rebellion...
But today, as things stand, I don't believe the uk parliament bosses around the commonwealth countries, unlike the approach the EU takes to its subjects/subordinates, that was the point I was making. What would be so wrong about a similar system for europe rather than the EU straitjacket?