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Britain Is a Developing Country

sambowman.co

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Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#191

Post by oska »

barry-cotter wrote: post #159
walthamstow wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The past UK standard of living was based on pillaging the colonies, then after divestment of Empire it was briefly propped up in the 80s by North Sea oil and in the 00s by financial deregulation. No shit we're not going to have the same standard of living as the past.

Colonies were always irrelevant to metropolitan standards of living. See how Norway, Sweden and Denmark with tiny or non-existent empires did as well as Britain, or how Germany and Austria-Hungary were no less wealthy than France. Developing makes a country rich. Looting a non-developed country is a one time thing. Developing is ongoing.

> See how Norway, Sweden and Denmark with tiny or non-existent empires did as well as Britain, or how Germany and Austria-Hungary were no less wealthy than France.

Sweden had an empire, Austria-Hungary was an empire up till the end of WWI. Also, there was extreme poverty in Norway and Sweden not that long ago (the 19th century), leading many to emigrate to the US. The same with German emigration.

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#192

Post by oska »

Shawnj2 wrote: post #190
oska wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also used to be better pre USA invasion (the more recent example)

Afghanistan between the Soviet invasion and the US invasion is basically “Taliban: The Country”. I’m not sure that’s an improvement

And the Taliban is back in power now, with a population that is more impoverished [1] than before the US invasion. So the US brought 20 years of war and suffering [2] and then left the country to resume under the same government they originally overthrew but now worse off.

[1] > The United States war in Afghanistan continues destroying lives due to the war-induced breakdown of the economy, public health, security, and infrastructure. Afghans have been massively improverished by the conflict. 92% of the population faces some level of food insecurity and 3 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Some regions are currently facing famine. At least half the population is living on less than $1.90 per day.

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/af...

[2] https://theintercept.com/2021/08/26/afghanistan-america-fail...

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#194

Post by ibrahimsow1 »

theironhammer wrote: post #153
Georgelemental wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how did the UK acquire the strength needed to take those colonies? Would-be conquerors are a dime a dozen, empires as successful as the British not so much

Good topic for a book me thinks.

There is a book on precisely this. Uncommon wealth: Britain and the aftermath of empire.

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#195

Post by avgcorrection »

alephnerd wrote: post #147
avgcorrection wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What point are you trying to make besides being a contrarian? Tell me.

1. The foreign policy decisions made by administrations during the Cold War are no longer implemented anymore. The Cold War is as distant in 2023 as WW2 was in 1980. The world in 2023 is different from the world in the 1970s which is different from the world in the 1940s. 2. The institutional changes that caused Venezuela's dramatic slide only really began to take hold in the 2000s, and were exacerbated by the global…

I wouldn’t have guessed that your point was about Venezuela.

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#196

Post by avgcorrection »

nradov wrote: post #179
avgcorrection wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s hard to be a petronation in the Americas.

It's only hard to be a "petronation" if you make it hard. The USA produces more oil and natural gas than any other country in the world, and we seem to be doing well enough. Similar for Canada. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-scale-of-gl...

By “hard” I meant that the local hegemon makes it hard.

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#197

Post by soco »

dahfizz wrote: post #160
soco wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking that exactly these points were what makes a country rich(er) - citizen well-being, delivering on the promises, and such. What are your criteria for a richer country then?

> What are your criteria for a richer country then? Uh... Having more money? Country A is richer than Country B if and only if Country A has more money. Country B may have a great QOL, low obesity, low inequality, etc etc. But its not richer unless it has more money. That's kinda what the word means.

A "country" cannot have money, it's not a real thing. People can have money, companies can have money, government can have money, banks can have money... you need to be more precise here. My expectation is when the people (I mean regular people) have more money at their disposal, thus more access to healthcare and education and mobility and beer and such, then the country is happier and better off thus richer. Reducing the word "rich" to "money" might be the cause of your confusion, but the dictionary explains it just as well by "having high value or quality".

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#198

Post by madeofpalk »

oska wrote: post #189
eterm wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not been the G8 for almost a decade now. If you really meant the G8, well, the UK for all it's faults is still somewhere I'd rather live than Russia.

And I would take Russia over the UK, even though my roots are British and I would enjoy delving into historical sites, etc, much more in the UK. But from looking on from Australia, the UK seems to be going downhill very rapidly, and has had a 'clown world' government for some time now. Russia, in contrast, only seems to be improving. (I didn't feel this way 5 years ago. My views on the current state and future trajec…

You would rather live in Russia than the UK?

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#199

Post by eterm »

madeofpalk wrote: post #198
oska wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I would take Russia over the UK, even though my roots are British and I would enjoy delving into historical sites, etc, much more in the UK. But from looking on from Australia, the UK seems to be going downhill very rapidly, and has had a 'clown world' government for some time now. Russia, in contrast, only seems to be improving. (I didn't feel this way 5 years ago. My views on the current state and future trajec…

You would rather live in Russia than the UK?

They're trolling, surely. No-one thinks Russia has a more stable government than the UK. They had a failed coup not even a month ago!

Re: Britain Is a Developing Country

#200

Post by oska »

madeofpalk wrote: post #198
oska wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I would take Russia over the UK, even though my roots are British and I would enjoy delving into historical sites, etc, much more in the UK. But from looking on from Australia, the UK seems to be going downhill very rapidly, and has had a 'clown world' government for some time now. Russia, in contrast, only seems to be improving. (I didn't feel this way 5 years ago. My views on the current state and future trajec…

You would rather live in Russia than the UK?

Yes, that's what I said.

I certainly wouldn't have wanted to live in Russia in the 90s, as it was a horrible time for the country. But Russia is vastly improved now, while I see the UK as going, quite quickly, in the opposite direction.

And as I also said, this is a fairly new sentiment for me. I have become very disappointed with where the UK is heading and frankly sickened by the actions of its governments, most prominently, in the last 18 months, its warmongering and peace-breaking in Ukraine but of course, it was also a prime instigator of the warmongering in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan and many other prior examples. But also, which is important for living there, the negative actions of its governments on its own people.

I still have a great affinity and regard for the British people and British culture but the country itself is sadly now in a very sorry state, thanks to its quite awful 'establishment' (governments, banks, intelligence agencies, media, etc).

The one thing that I am unsure about with living in Russia is living so deep inside a continent. I live on the coast of Australia (like most Australians) and my affinity is generally for coastal living or island countries. So the UK has appeal to me there. If I did have to live in the UK its west coast would be the most appealing prospect for me.

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