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BobbyO · Apr 29, 2008, 10:10 pm

The British made the situation worse by trying to keep the masses uneducated. This made them less informed participants and limited their ability to effectively govern themselves after the British left. And propping up those petty despots, made each think they were entitled to retain that power after the British were gone and made the situation worse.

Those you divide to rule, develop petty hatreds that tend to boil out of control once the "controlling hand of the master" is removed. This makes the situation worse once you leave. Then it becomes a power struggle to see who gets to be the new "master" of the remaining "slaves".

More of the same, except now we see how our own stupid cold war short sightedness helped make the world even LESS safe.

You really need to learn how to connect dots.[/quote]

Let's think about this a bit. First of all, you approach the issue as if the UK, when they arrived in India, found a single political entity which they proceeded to divide. They did not. It was already divided politically. The UK responded and organised accordingly.

You then wish to say these political entities resided in harmony. Again, they did not. There had always been conflicts between Islam and Hinduism. Islam spread into India in its typical manner- via the sword.

You then wish to say the English wished to keep the Indians uneducated- as if India a deeply caste society, was otherwise interested in educating all its people, absent the british empire.

You further say the pre-war elections exacerbated the problem. And you are right. India was not ready for independence. yet they were pushed out by people who argue that colonialism is "bad."

The problem that the Islamic world faced in the mid and near east after WW II, is that they adopted the socialist style governence that they saw arising out of the UK and France. That was the key to prosperity. Not surprising, there was bitter dissapointment. So the Islamic world has been swinging toward fundamentalism as the answer to their problem. And they will find that also dissapointing.

Apr 29, 2008, 10:10 pm	#43 (permalink) (top)
BobbyO Kuehnelt-Leddihn Location: Brookyn, USA Posts: 774	The British made the situation worse by trying to keep the masses uneducated. This made them less informed participants and limited their ability to effectively govern themselves after the British left. And propping up those petty despots, made each think they were entitled to retain that power after the British were gone and made the situation worse. Those you divide to rule, develop petty hatreds that tend to boil out of control once the "controlling hand of the master" is removed. This makes the situation worse once you leave. Then it becomes a power struggle to see who gets to be the new "master" of the remaining "slaves". More of the same, except now we see how our own stupid cold war short sightedness helped make the world even LESS safe. You really need to learn how to connect dots.[/quote] Let's think about this a bit. First of all, you approach the issue as if the UK, when they arrived in India, found a single political entity which they proceeded to divide. They did not. It was already divided politically. The UK responded and organised accordingly. You then wish to say these political entities resided in harmony. Again, they did not. There had always been conflicts between Islam and Hinduism. Islam spread into India in its typical manner- via the sword. You then wish to say the English wished to keep the Indians uneducated- as if India a deeply caste society, was otherwise interested in educating all its people, absent the british empire. You further say the pre-war elections exacerbated the problem. And you are right. India was not ready for independence. yet they were pushed out by people who argue that colonialism is "bad." The problem that the Islamic world faced in the mid and near east after WW II, is that they adopted the socialist style governence that they saw arising out of the UK and France. That was the key to prosperity. Not surprising, there was bitter dissapointment. So the Islamic world has been swinging toward fundamentalism as the answer to their problem. And they will find that also dissapointing.