261–270 of 327 posts
Meanwhile this one has less noise since it wasn’t taken by the British and no one is asking for it back AFAIK https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daria-i-Noor
We are past conquest for the most part, thankfully. But conquest was the way of the world at one time. When the dust settles things stand as they stand, that's all there is to it.
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This is why I'm not a fan of "correcting" history. What happened, happened. You cannot really correct it without breaking something elsewhere. Returning this diamond isn't going to magically erase 200 years of colonial rule.
But it's going to give back a sense of pride and belonging to people to see their possession back in their hands
Not a fan of the British crown (why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation) but who should they return the diamond to - Afghanistan (it was the Durranis that looted it from Nader Shah after he looted it from the Mughals), India (Maharaja Ranjit Singh took it as tribute from Shah Shuja after conquering Kashmir from the Durranis), or Pakistan (the Sikh Empire capital was Lahore and the Durrani Empire c…
Technically speaking, we don't really know who owns it. But what we do know is that the British definitely doesn't own it. If somebody stole this from the British today, they have no right to complain!
James Acaster does a great job highlighting the absurdity of the British refusing to repatriate stuff taken from the empire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x73PkUvArJY
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Then why did they say very recently that it was not taken or stolen? They aren’t under duress anymore. They could just have easily said that it was gifted under duress and asked for it back.
It's a nation of over a billion people. The "they" you speak of doesn't speak for everyone.
They can keep the stupid rock provided they return the $45 trillion they stole from India over 200 years. https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/british-took-45-...
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IIRC that is an absolutely bullshit number based on taking what the Brits actually did steal, giving it the most favorable conversion to USD, and then applying a few hundred years of compounding interest. 7% APR for 300 years is a 650,000,000x return.
>>and then applying a few hundred years of compounding interest. Yeah that is unfortunately how money works. Why do you think countries like USA are so rich, they've been making investments for a few centuries now. Robbers and looter should pay for opportunity costs, this is how it should work.
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David Frum's new Atlantic article shows a similar situation in Nigeria: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/10/benin-b... Basically the Nigerian federal government, the state government of Benin, and the descendants of the kings of Benin who originally owned the stolen Benin bronzes all think they should be the ones to whom the bronzes should be returned -- and in the case of the current king, he assert…
Okay. But that's surely not a reason why the Brits get to keep it. "This is too hard, let's give up and keep bringing in tourist money to our museums through these artifacts" feels like an awfully convenient excuse.
Of course, there's still monetary benefit to the museum, London and Britain from people visiting to see them.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/...
Not a fan of the British crown (why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation) but who should they return the diamond to - Afghanistan (it was the Durranis that looted it from Nader Shah after he looted it from the Mughals), India (Maharaja Ranjit Singh took it as tribute from Shah Shuja after conquering Kashmir from the Durranis), or Pakistan (the Sikh Empire capital was Lahore and the Durrani Empire c…
>why are they exempt from taxes during record high inflation Because they literally own all (or at least most) of the tourist attractions in the UK. It looks funny how the royal family is paid bunch of money for just existing until you realize they own the land and they have deal with the government where government handles the properties and whatever and pays the royal family for it, but the amount revenue is much m…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Estate
(And the monarch is still exempt from inheritance tax on their private property, e.g. Balmoral.)