Is Brexit the first step in a chain reaction that will eventually

>>66492826
I wish. The EU fucked up this country and its own productivity

>>66492826
Nah, that's just wishful thinking on the Brexit idiot crowd

>>66492856
don't kid yourself, you were a shitty country since the beginning,

>>66492856
>productivity
you guys can start by not losing consciousness for a couple of hours after eating lunch

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>>66492856
>its own productivity

With any luck.

Fuck EU

>>66492826
I don't think so, no.

>>66492826
It will streghten our tied and bond.

half of the people of the UK who voted that day got it all wrong and do not understand what Europe and the EU is! They don't get the spirit. Theys till have that old "Britannia rule the wave" mentality and the Commonwealth and the USA being their special friends etc etc. They don't live in the reality. It makes sense to have an Union right here, at home, where Britain actually is located, friendship and trading to the closest of their shore. THAT makes sense. But they refuse to accept it.

Brexit will eventually fail and not live up to the expectations of brexiters.

>>66493682
This

>>66492826
No. I think it's more likely we'll all be fucked in the former UK while the rest of Europe gets on with it.

Also, if you're reading this and you voted Brexit, fuck you.

>>66492999
>>66493053
Spain was self-sustaintable until the end of the 70's

>>66493682
why cant europe live in union without belonging under the thumb to an increasingly federalising dictatorship? the probably with the eu is they arent subject to change, we gave many warnings but they refuse to back down on any of their policies and thats what will be the collapse of the eu, and that couldnt come sooner.

people are confusing europe and the eu too often. we were fine before the eu and we'll be fine after. if having borders means saying fuck you to the continent then so be it, its what most of us feel

The "we leave the EU lmao" meme has pretty much died t b h.
The brits just happen to have fell for it.

>>66493840
>muh Franco
Lel kid, Autarchy almost killed Spain, and no, it wasnt self sustainable at all.
Spain began fast developement after opening to external inversors.

Fuck the EU.

>>66494017
>>66493074


Look at that, just need the Australians and the whole thing is there.

>>66492826
Depends on how the EU comports itself. At this point most of Britain one way or another regrets Brexit and loads of people even called for a second referendum because supposedly the first referendum's results could not have been forseen. Also Johnson and Farage, ie. "instead of paying the Poles we can fund NHS" remained awfully quiet after Britain's economy tanked and the value of the pound plummeted (both before Brexit was even finalized!).

In the current situation Brexit may not even happen at all. But if it does happen, it depends on whether or not things truly do get better in Britain, and how they get better. What most British seem to hope for is a Norway-esque solution, ie. being subject to EU legislation without being able to decide what this EU legislation is. This won't inspire much faith for other countries to leave the EU. But if Britain somehow manages to sever all ties with the EU and somehow remain prosperous, more might follow. If not, it will only strengthen the EU, as it proves that it's impossible to "truly" leave and staying in the core is preferable to staying on the fringe.

>>66493995
dictatorship and censorship was shit

but economy and families were more stable, secure, jobs were way better, etc

if you don't agree then argue with my grandpa that lived it.

>>66494616
>but economy and families were more stable, secure, jobs were way better etc.
>propaganda
Gee, I wonder if your perception of the era might be skewed in some possible way! Families were probably more stable but that also applied to all the European countries that weren't fascist dictatorships at the time.

>Muh grandpa
Nice anecdotes. What next, you're going to quote the Zulu king on apartheid being totally awesome for black Africans?

>>66493897
Frankly Brexit was the best thing Britons have done, for them and for EU...they were the only country really "out of the choir" in the union...at least now it is an aggregate a bit more coherent...I think the next step will be a kind of differentiation inside EU, like a core of Germany, Benelux, France subject to certain rules and the others left behind...imho things started to go wrong when we a. let in Eastern Europe (thanks Germany, mainly) b. have a discrasy between European Union and Monetary Union and c. have a euro setup like the one we have today

>>66495270
Everything went wrong from the very start. The EU is a top-down imposed wannabe country with neither a language nor a culture. It tries and fails to be America.

It could only work if French and/or German were declared the dominant cultures and the only working languages of the EU, but that will never happen because some Lithuanian will cry about his shitty culture being lost.

Would a Federal Europe be more feasible now that the UK is out of the works, or do the Nordics still oppose it too much?

>>66495403
It's out of the question because it cannot work in a union with at least 40+ languages and 50+ cultural traditions. You think Belgium is on the verge of collapse? Multiply it by a factor of 25.

>>66495536
Ah, I can see how that would become problematic.

>>66495395
The point is international system is heading towards some kind of regional blocks that side single states interaction and we will also have to face with big players on the international scene...hence, good or wrong, France, Germany or UK (not to mention all the others) won't be able to be what they were in the 18th and 19th century...I think we kind of need EU or just let the others play the game...

>>66492826
i doubt it

>>66495403
At this point, the initial vision has changed and a federal Europe won't be something achiveable, as Dutchanon said...but I think we should find a kind of workable form to project Europe and be one of the poles on the international arena

>>66495649
>The point is international system is heading towards some kind of regional blocks that side single states interaction
No, they're not. America, Russia China and in the long term even Brazil and India will be able to act as world players, with perhaps a few irrelevant non-nations behind them (America and all minor North-American countries, China and the Sinosphere, Russia and the former Soviet block etc.). The EU is a really, really bad attempt to make Europe great again, by claiming through entirely marxist rhetoric that the age of nation-states is over. It is not, and the most powerful entities of the future will be nation-states. Unless the EU manages to create a European identity, the European era is over and the Asian Century will commence.

>>66495536
It works for the US

>>66496153
>1 language
>Regional cultures that are about as different as Corsican and Picardian culture at best
>One religion with uninfluential minority beliefs

>>66495973
Inshallah

Nope, everyone is benefiting from the trade bloc too much except old unemployed northern brits :^)

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One can only hope.

The following decades of eurocuck neverending tears would be too delicious to bare.

>>66496227
>Opposing Marxist rhetoric makes you a Muslim

>>66496323
>Everyone
Yeah...nah. Low education professions are suffering greatly, and ever since the eurocrisis the wealth gap between rich and poor in supposedly high-performance economy Germany grew faster than ever. Only a few bankers and politicians at the top profit. This is why resistance to TTIP and the equivalent deal with Canada was so fierce.

>>66495973
>and we will also have to face with big players on the international scene...hence, good or wrong, France, Germany or UK (not to mention all the others) won't be able to be what they were in the 18th and 19th century

That's what I had written...US, Russia, PRC are all big players, in terms of real hard/soft power projection, something which we can't really match as single states (I express my doubts on Brazil and India...in the long terms mean not before 2040-50)...about regional systems, they're a workable way to interact with these big players chosen by smaller entities, they exist, and they're used by big players as well (look ASEAN-PRC for example, or Russia-former USSR economic union, just to name two)
That this EU was a bad attempt, it seems clear even from my statements...I'm not saying viva EU, I'm saying that in order to stay afloat we should find a kind of workable solution, not an utopistic federation or some romantic dreams of a left that has lost his sense after the collapse of communism in USSR...pragmatically we need something that can let European nation-states have a voice in the international stage

Well DeGaulle was opposed to UK entering the Union, he forsaw the reasons why they wanted to be in in the first place

>>66496386
Well resistance to TTIP includes also those clauses that allows companies to sue governments for passing laws that set unfavourable economic environment, desu...

>>66496403
>pragmatically we need something that can let European nation-states have a voice in the international stage
Why? Why do we have to be like a wrinkled, old lady that insists on being offered free drinks at a bar? The times have changed, Europe is a shadow of its former self. Why delude ourselves with dreams of power that require us to destroy ourselves when we can simply accept change in the world and focus on making Europe a good place to live? Even before the EU went full retard Switzerland was one of the best places in the world to live, and not because of its voice on the world stage, which is as close to zero as it gets due to its unconditional neutrality.

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>Mfw we were waiting to become a member for more than 50 years.
>Mfw EU shuts its self down before Turkey can enter

Pottery.

>>66492826
>Brexit

No such thing. Not until they actually article 50 their way out, which won't happen because the UK is in a 'negotiating stalemate' with the EU.

I'll believe it when I see it, but I don't anticipate it ACTUALLY happening.

>>66496196
tbf originally America was actually more culturally and economically stratified with a bunch of different sects due tot he fact that each new colony was populated primarily by different groups of people (puritans, quakers, borderers)

>>66496848
sdgsd>>66492826

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>It's a Anglo destroys unified Europe episode

Now that Great Britain pretty much fucked their economy for decades, why don't you guys just join the US as another state. It would make a nice addition. And while, you would have a smaller economy than other states, you would still be better off then you would be alone.

>>66496811
Well, I'd perfectly agree with you, and I'd truly appreciate an effort focused only in making Europe a good place to live...who doesn't want that! But what's up when Europe will be crushed in between those giants without having a word, what's when migrants flows without control and erode piece by piece our nation-states, what's when Russia decides that, facing sanctions, doesn't look favourable exporting all that gas towards west...what I mean is that in this present world configuration (I don't have a magic ball and can't predict future reading tea leaves or coffee ground) just what pushes from outside is already a great strain on the capabilities of single nation-states...and that affects my country for certain aspects, but yours as well, for others...moreover, I like your country, and honestly one thing I recognise Europe did good at first was the fact that I can hop on a flight and land in Amsterdam without any visa formality, visit an exhibition at Van Gogh museum, eat a stamppot, stroll along the canals and enjoy the nightlife before going back at the end of the weekend...that, internally, had been a big change, imho...for the rest, I agree, EU had been a dream of old feast and power...

>>66497157
No thanks. Would be worse than the EU

>>66497157
I'd rather starve desu

>>66497157
Well, that would be the natural, coherent ending for UK...don't know if Scots would follow though...

>>66497735
You don't know us very well

>>66497781
True...but for your own good, old Empire ended, unfortunately...

>>66497846
Italy should join the US.

>>66497846
Why do you bring up the empire? I don't understand why Euro's always bring it up in brexit threads

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>mfw regret voting leave economically but fuck the EU

>>66498150
On which basis? Great Britain and United States share a good amount of cultural background (cultural in broader sense)...and you practically were father to them...
mine, above, was a provocation, naturally...but don't tell me UK was like at home in EU...you're that way, your Empire days - but even before - made you a unique entity...wish you good luck sailing alone, just watch out for rough seas...as I said originally, imho brexit is the best thing you've done in the last thirty years probably...

>>66498198
Because if you recall in the lead up to the vote, it was that warm, nostalgic glow of "we used to trade with half the world" that convinced a fair few leave voters that trade deals are a cinch, we'll make Britain great again and those bloody Europeans need us more than we need them.

>>66498381
We "trade with half the world" today. EU is around 44% of our trade. The British empire was dead or dying when most of today's old people were little.

It was the immigration thing and losing out from globalisation that drove the Leave vote

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>>66498310
I voted remain but now that we're leaving idgaf what happens to the EU. I actually kind of hope it does go to shit so they don't have an advantage over us

>>66498198
Well surely not to offend you, UK...it's because that's the kind of islander+Old Empire mentality that appears from the declarations of Britons, see >>66498381 for example...it's nostalgic of good old days and you are still on the wave with London being a worldwide financial hub...

i hope so
britain will do a nice thing for europe for the first time ever

>>66498361
Because we share cultural links we should surrender sovereignty to them and become Americans? That's the dumbest thing I've ever read.

They don't even have a parliamentary system. As a Brit who's been to the USA many times, it feels very much like a foreign country

>>66498534
We don't have trade deals with half the world, leaving the EU will leave the UK the only country in the world without a trade deal.

Even North Korea trades with China ffs.

>It was the immigration thing and losing out from globalisation that drove the Leave vote

There were many reasons but most of them were scapegoating the EU for the UK governments failings. Immigration, low wages etc...

>>66498547
desu thanks for leaving

>tfw you knew it was anglo blood before you even opened the thread

>>66492826
Other way around if post-Brexit opinion polls and pound's value are of any indication

>>66498547
Why do we think like this. Just because one country does good, doesn't mean it will cause you to do worse. It's actually quite the opposite. Why can't we all work together to make a stronger western world?

>>66498607
You're very confused about your history.

London only became a financial hub of world leading importance in the 80s. When today's old people were young, London was in decline. Also Britain was withdrawing from its empire.

>>66498708
Imagine if we had the US' obsession with guns, abortion and social justice. The thought makes me shudder, no one ever take actual issues seriously ever again.

>>66498730
You didn't say trade deals, you said we used to trade with half the world. Not having a trade deal doesn't mean you can't trade.

We have a huge trade surplus with the USA and no trade agreement with that country

>>66498853
Actually London was a financial hub of world importance under Queen Victoria and the globalisation of those times...today is heritage of the network you set up in those days...

>>66498991
>You didn't say trade deals, you said we used to trade with half the world

Most brexiters don't know the difference.

Shakespear was not European, he was American.
Charles Darwin was not European, he was Australian (born and bred in Perth - New South Wales)
Isaac Newton, American. He was not European.
Charles Dickens, Canadian from Western Columbia.
Charlie Chaplin, great American actor from Los Angeles.

>>66499228
>Shakespeare was American

wat

>>66499011
Yes under queen Victoria, and then it rapidly fell into decline after WW1. Today's success is nothing to do with the old way London operated

The 1980's big bang destroyed the old way of doing business and built up new financial industries such as forex. The Euro/dollar bond trade which boosted London so much was a result of deregulation not continuing what happened before

London was actually experiencing depopulation from WW2 until the 1980's as a result of the city's decline. Only in the last couple of years has it passed the peak population of nearly a century ago

>>66499228
Bon post pêh

>>66499228
Wat

>>66499316
This, the deregulation and 'light touch' is what pulled the bankers in London.

>>66496931
This, America is culturally different enough that the Federal Government can only be so strong (as evidenced by such things as Reconstruction and the whole desegregation thing), but homogeneous enough to still be a coherent country, so I still believe it's a faulty analogy between it and the EU.

>>66497507
>>66497654

You'd likely have more autonomy than in Federal Europe tbch, although that doesn't seem possible given this thread.

>>66492826
no, it just means Continental Sytem Part 2 for England.

>>66499417
The choice of being subservient to the USA or EU is a false one anyway. I don't buy it for one second

And anons in this thread who act like the UK came into existence with a world-spanning powerful empire so we can't cope alone without one, they really need to get a grip

>>66499468
and this time USA will stop any cooperation with Russia

>>66499558
Fair enough, and I do agree that you have the Commonwealth so wouldn't have to make that choice anyway.

>>66499594
They haven't been able to stop our cooperation with China. They told us not to join the aiib. UK was the first western country to join it

>>66493009
kek

>>66499558
>should get a grip

Fucking child buffoon. Everyone with more than two brain cells told you it was a bad idea. Johnson and Farage your two biggest Brexit leaders campaigned for it because they never thought it would actually happen. Johnson was a Remainer before the debate started and Farage conceded the loss of Brexit at midnight the day of the election. He woke up to the results and couldn't believe it himself.
Those are the people you trusted with your life.

>>66499637
We need to think beyond the Commonwealth. Again it's the same attitude of settling for what we did historically. Yes the Commonwealth has loads of potential but it shouldn't be a blueprint.

In my opinion we need to expand our presence in Asia and south America

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>>66499722
Why are you so mad? You didn't think we'd bankroll your migrants for ever did you?

>>66499756
>muh bricks

You would be better served by the Commonwealth Dominions, and you can trust them as bedfellows.

>>66499844
Your point being? Fucking anime poster kys you disgust me.

>>66499845

IMO we need to get really friendly with the larger commonwealth nations (Australia, Canada) and then be friendly to the asian powers. China is actually quite fond of us as we were one of the most willing countries to do trade deals with it and Japan is pretty friendly with us too. Already that's the second and third largest economies that we will be able to do proper trade with that we couldn't previously. If you think no one is going to trade with the U.K you are deluded.

>>66492826
The opposite, we were basically the federalists only strong opposition.

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>>66499965
You know what this website was origonally for right? Get out newfag

>>66499722
Why do you think you know how I voted?
Why do you think you know who I trust?

What does any of this have to do with the "Empire Fallacy" I described earlier?

>>66499845
Not the Brics, that's also an outdated concept. It's not an either/or choice. Yes increasing Commonwealth ties is absolutely something we should do and probably prioritise above all others. But in addition:

- South America beyond just Brazil
- Mexico and Central America
- Japan

They are all important for us imo and they're not in the Commonwealth (except Belize in Central America) or BRICS

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>>66499965
The French will never vote for sovereignty because they like being fucked in the ass.

I hope they leave. Maybe finally we will get proper workers and consumers rights. England has been the biggest block for giving proper rights to the people.

>>66500156
Kek. Of course, I'd forgotten WW2.

>>66500001
Getting closer with China as an answer is retarded. They will steal your intellectual property and your jobs. They won't import anything from you. There is literally nothing to gain from a close economic relationship with China

>>66500190
That wasn't us m8, we've got some of the strictest consumer right laws in the world

>>66492826
hopefully

>>66500141
> all third world countries besides Japan
Lool good luck with that. Someday soon you'll be just like them anyways

>>66500288
>Poland

>>66492826
Death to Europe desu

>>66500288
>literally a country held together by EU money
>wants EU to die
lmao

>>66500001
I don't think anyone would want to limit trade with the U.K., probably not even bumbruised jaded EU countries. UK is populated, rich, and well connected, it won't be hard to secure trade deals, agreements, and partners.

>>66500141
Of course diversifying your trade negotiations is a good idea+, but America and the Commonwealth Dominions will be your most reliable partners, you can't always trust developing nations, corrupt Latin American countries, etc. and China doesn't need anymore reasons to keep growing an artificially manipulated economy, or they will implode and we'll all feel it.

>>66500232
>They will steal your intellectual property and your jobs.
Other countries have done this to us as well. The most appalling example wrt intellectual property was from your country the US, when you accepted the extensive help of British scientists in developing the nuclear bomb in return for the end data (allowing bomb development) being shared with the UK. But what the USA actually did was take our help then shut us out, in violation of the agreement your President made with Churchill during the war

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Energy_Act_of_1946

We need to be careful with China but we certainly shouldn't be taking any advice from you lot on this matter, because you're actually worse.

The Euro was a mistake

>>66500475
Close relations with Britain will be a good influence on *them* as well as more trade for *us* is how I see it. For example, British experts are already advising the Chinese on how to deal with the transition to a service economy

>>66500505
We used the bomb to end WW2. You really believe having nukes would have been useful to you. Knowledge of this weapon should be restricted. But go ahead and further destroy your economy you arrogant faggot

>>66500505
Canada was part of that too (the 3 "keyholders" of atomic knowhow that Truman spoke of were Brit, Can, USA), they did the same to us, took our research (usually joint UK & Canadian) and then shut us out.

Don't forget that it was also a joint team of Canadian and British Avro project aerospace engineers that were "loaned" to NASA, formed the core of what's now the Johnson Space Centre, and put men on the moon where they planted an American flag.

>>66500677
>We used the bomb to end WW2.
Yep, what's your point? This happened in 1946 after the war.

>You really believe having nukes would have been useful to you.
Yes. In fact they secured our place on the UNSC P5. We had to develop our own nuclear weapon from scratch, to great expense, after the USA shut us out.

>>66500758
>Canada was part of that too
Yeah I know

>Don't forget that it was also a joint team of Canadian and British Avro project aerospace engineers that were "loaned" to NASA, formed the core of what's now the Johnson Space Centre, and put men on the moon where they planted an American flag.
Didn't know that one. Not surprised though.

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>there are people are unironically voted leave in this thread

>>66499228
this is all true 2bh

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>>66500288
>says the number one beneficiary of the EU

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>>66492826
UK, can you pls re-solidify political and economic relations with your commonwealth realm, considering ur leaving all the dumb euros behind
pls

Fuck the UK, I don't like being a tiny small irrelevant country I want to be a strong European superstate. We should all speak Latin and have big festivals like in Rome and invent a history for ourselves. All nationalisms are a meme anyway so we should just make our own.

>>66500758
>Don't forget that it was also a joint team of Canadian and British Avro project aerospace engineers that were "loaned" to NASA, formed the core of what's now the Johnson Space Centre, and put men on the moon where they planted an American flag.
wtf i hate america now

>>66501487
>I don't like being a tiny small irrelevant country
good thing you're not

>>66501204
But that's Germany

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>>66500313
Those "third world countries" have loads of potential. They're new markets with expanding populations. It's exactly what we should be looking at. Where we are right now means some short-term economic pain but it's also an opportunity to expand the global presence of the UK.

Cameron made a fairly decent start, opening some new military bases, new defence agreement with Japan, more British military in Asia-Pacific war games, we even re-opened a military base in central America.

However we can and should do much more.

>>66501599
http://www.euronews.com/2015/07/08/poland-is-biggest-beneficiary-of-eu-funds-so-why-is-euroscepticism-on-the-rise

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9643193/EU-budget-who-pays-what-and-how-it-is-spent.html

https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/nov/22/eu-budget-spending-contributions-european-union

>>66501602
reminder you have 53 member states in your commonwealth, most of them with heavy resource based economies
those + commonwealth realm dominions would be a pretty ok economic union

>>66501599
Germany is the largest contributor, Poland is the biggest leech of them all.

>>66501704
This
Empire 2.0 Now!

>>66501704
Why would anyone want to be in an economic union with us when they now know we're willing to fuck everything up for that union over conservative back benchers?

>>66500877
>tfw no qt gf to vomit sexily
Why do we bother living bro?

>>66501816
>Why would anyone want to be in an economic union with us when they now know we're willing to fuck everything up for that union over conservative back benchers?
because every country i mentioned is already voluntarily in political union with you, and most of your 3rd world commonwealth buds would just be giddy because wew foreign investment

>>66501816
Because most of us can enter into a mutually lucrative trade arrangement without demanding that everyone open their borders.

Also, probably not too many Canadians, Kiwis, or Aussies, scrambling to work as plumbers in the UK.

>>66501704
Yeah I know but the problem is if we tried to push that hard, many of those countries would resent what they'd see as Britain trying to be an imperial exploiter again. It's a political non-starter lots of the Commonwealth countries. What we should do is nurture the Commonwealth bonds but do it on a bilateral basis, at least first.

Remember that those bonds won't go away no matter the shape of the new economic union that's formed. HK is part of China now but the UK has been using those historic ties with HK, such as the big financial firms HSBC and Standard Chartered, to nurture the relationship with China.

>>66501761
Germany is the biggest benefactor not Poland. It exploits the weak Euro and it suppresses German worker wages to boost exports to the detriment of other Eurozone members. That's worth a lot more than the money Poland receives. If you count only those direct transfers from rich to poor countries, you really are not very smart

>>66501877
Commonwealth is not a political union.

>>66501958
>Yeah I know but the problem is if we tried to push that hard, many of those countries would resent what they'd see as Britain trying to be an imperial exploiter again.
yeah, thats why africa is signing onto trade agreements with the chinese?
the outside world cares more than the african countries, and some african nations are so mentally fucked that the majority (or at least a vocal minority) say they miss the colonial era within their nation

>>66499316
Naturally it's almost as everything you said...just please put the population and trade figures in proportion and you'll see London today is just the result of the historical cycles of capital accumulation (not a communist thing, before you say it)...we see it from different perspective...London, as Amsterdam before, still enjoy those kind of networks and "positional rent" that were able to create during their respective empires...that scope and consistency are different is natural, as the American egemony has substituted the British one in between the two WW, but the foundations of why London is a financial hub nowadays, imho, are laid from that imperial age...

>>66501958
>Commonwealth is not a political union.
well the commonwealth realm is as far as i know, but yeah the big commonwealth is just a voluntary association
it doesnt change the fact that these guys are voluntarily associated with you and would at least seriously consider commonwealth exclusive trade agreements

>>66502045
>yeah, thats why africa is signing onto trade agreements with the chinese?

Yes, because China wasn't a historical coloniser of Africa so they can get away with neo-colonialism today. Also the Chinese have massive holdings of liquid capital that they can invest in them as a big net creditor. The UK does not have that.

>>66502177
>because China wasn't a historical coloniser of Africa so they can get away with neo-colonialism today
wew, kinda odd considering they're one of the most relevant human rights abusers in society today

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>>66502067
If you're going to look at it from that angle, then the foundations were not laid in the imperial age. It happened in a few main events:

- in the late 17th century when England essentially imported the Amsterdam stockmarket to London
- the invention of National Debt
- creating the world's first central bank the Bank of England

All of that happened before the imperial age you refer to (which was post-1815).

You'll notice that lots of British innovations that put us ahead of other countries happened when we didn't have an Empire, or when it was very small.

During peak Empire years, the late 19th century, there wasn't much innovation. We were actually falling behind relative to our main competitors from 1870 onwards. Imperial success and grandeur made us lazy and that resulted in decline.

File: congo-chinese.jpg (655KB, 1856x3624px) Image search: [Google]

655KB, 1856x3624px

>>66502177
>>66502298

>>66494478
What a load of utter horse shit.

>>66502298
The people ruling these countries mostly base their legitimacy on being the continuation of people who fought off the European colonisers. Think about what that means. Politics isn't rational, nobody gives two shits about about human rights records if they're not a rich developed country

>>66502368
>England's crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, became the catalyst for England's rebuilding itself as a global power. England had no choice but to build a powerful navy. No public funds were available, and the credit of William III's government was so low in London that it was impossible for it to borrow the £1,200,000 (at 8% p.a.) that the government wanted.

>To induce subscription to the loan, the subscribers were to be incorporated by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. The Bank was given exclusive possession of the government's balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue bank notes.[14] The lenders would give the government cash (bullion) and issue notes against the government bonds, which can be lent again. The £1.2m was raised in 12 days; half of this was used to rebuild the navy.

>>66502368
My fault...when I talk about Empire I referred to the period started after British affirmation over France as successor of Dutch hegemony...so yeah, literally before 1815...

>>66503263
>I referred to the period started after British affirmation over France as successor of Dutch hegemony.
France was still stronger than Britain after 1688 (which the Dutch started the decline).

France was stronger than Britain until the Seven Years War which ended in 1763. The only empire Britain had at that point was the 13 Colonies, which were lost 20 years later.