PSmith—Brown, black and yellow people kill brown, black and yellow people too. There have been very violent non-white empires in the past, though not so much in the 19th-21st centuries. It always seems to come down to economics, limited resources, power. 

Also think class, religion, nationalism etc. still enters into it, in many of the countries.

The good news may be that our days as an empire are winding down. What a relief to be a second or third-rate power.

PSmith, thanks for the humorous takes on the British Empire. (I don’t agree with Kipling’s imperialist-based sentiments but still find his writing, particularly short stories and poetry, irresistable.)

I think the Brits are in Afghanistan for the same reason most Westerners are—fear of the threat of terrorists bombing their mass transit system, flying planes into buildings, etc. The roots of terror may or may not be affected by what is going on in Afghanistan.

Terror is not a simplistic phenonema; yesterday’s NYTimes carried a lengthy, interesting article about young men among Somalian refugees who have been in America a long time—many since childhood. A small number of them are returning to Somalia as fighters, including a suicide bomber, some on different sides in Somalia’s chaotic clan-based society and some clearly opposed to Ethiopian Christians in their country. No one knows if they will focus their Islamic anger at America or not but it seems not so likely. One young man, a high achiever in an American college when he went back to be a jihadi in Somalia, was asked by one of the many young Somalians to contact him on his Facebook whether he would come back and bomb America. He responded, “No. Why would I do that? My mom might be walking down the street.”

People are more complicated than we think, whether “we” or leftists or rightists or whatever religion, etc.

The English, like the Americans, get an enormous, long lasting hard-on through the Viagra of imperialism and killing lesser peoples.  The rat Gordon Brown, like the rat Tony Blair, has now grafted himself onto Obama’s backside and they will go down together.