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When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

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241–250 of 356 posts

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The indigenous people of New Caledonia are currently in a deep battle (politically) with the French colonialists for the governance of the lands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_New_Caledonia_unrest

Over simplification. By that argument, Americans can leave the US right now and give it back to the original inhabitants of the country. Various parties want more autonomy in New Caledonia which France is more than ready to give. The process is somewhat sabotaged by a tiny group of Marxist but it is moving in the right direction.

What I find fascinating in the whole process is how the lefts in mainland are broadly supporting the FLNK, as if any ethnic minority could only be on the right side. Even when said group is advocating to rid "their" land of a population that was born on the same soil as them, over multiple generations too. Yes the Kanak's ancestors were robbed of their land, but the left is also arguing for massively reducing inheritance and giving more rights to immigrants on other fronts.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#242

I’ve been really sad getting older and having so much more context on Britain. My family weirdly had access to all of British TV in US growing up and they had fantastic programs. Now, I feel they are a joke. They seem like a strong example of what absolutely not to do. Their cultural exports have sunk. The arrested citizens for social media posts seems draconian. The economy barely hanging on. I understand the Media…

Don't believe everything you read on FB/X about Britain. There are problems but they seem to be the same as everywhere else.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#243
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could have done quite a lot to piss of the Chinese while still honoring the treaty. The lease was only for the New Territories, but they gave all of HK back. Or they could have tried to give it to the government in Taiwan. Whether that would have protected the people of Hong Kong is another matter. I think at the time people were still optimistic about the direction China was taking and they might have thought C…

If you think the UK gov’t was in any position to piss China off then (or now!) without it costing them and anyone else involved far more than it’s worth, I don’t know what to say. It’s honestly amazing that China didn’t apply more ‘direct’ pressure to get HK bad sooner. There is nothing the UK likely would have done about it. Bad for business I guess? Macau transferred over around the same time. The Qing dynasty ‘rem…

>If you think the UK gov’t was in any position to piss China off then (or now!) without it costing them and anyone else involved far more than it’s worth, I don’t know what to say.

Oh no, I definitely don't think that.

>It’s honestly amazing that China didn’t apply more ‘direct’ pressure to get HK bad sooner. There is nothing the UK likely would have done about it. Bad for business I guess? Macau transferred over around the same time.

The 80-90's were a bit too early to take such a risk I think, now they wouldn't take such a deal. The British likely got the best deal they could get.

>The Qing dynasty ‘remnants’ in Taiwan would have just been steamrolled if they’d gone anywhere near it. And not like there was any real cultural reason why HK’ers would accept them anyway, or that the Qing were well loved. CCP steamrolled them in mainland China like they did because they were, by all accounts, terrible.

The Republic of China government is no more (or less) a Qing dynasty remnant than the CCP is. They were indeed terrible, but that's a long time a go, most people involved are dead by now and the country has changed a lot. The CCP on the other hand is going back to the Mao era.

The civil war took two decades, in which the Kuomintang nearly defeated the Communists and had to fight off the Japanese while the Communists got bankrolled by the Soviets. I'd hardly call that steamrolled.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#244

Hm. I feel like the french republic can still make the claim though, at least according to this wikipedia map. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Mapadefr...

I measured it a while ago (well, 11 years now) and both France and the UK made the cut[0]. France has much more margin though, IIRC no single territory becoming independent would make the sun set on France. [0] https://ssz.fr/sun-never-sets/

France also has the longest internal scheduled flight - 9,349km

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_longest_domestic_fli...

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#245
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is always funny to ask people what country has the longest land border with France.

It's funny because you can't measure borders due to the coastline paradox.

Eh. If you care about relative measurements it doesn't matter much. Pick a sensible resolution, stick with it, you got yourself a ranking.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#246
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Franco-Spanish border runs for 685.42 kilometres (425.90 mi) between southwestern France and northeastern Spain. [1] > The Brazil–France border is the line, located in the Amazon Rainforest, that limits the territories of Brazil and France. The border is located between the Brazilian state of Amapá and French Guiana. It is 730 kilometres (450 mi) in length. [2] I'll be damned! [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Is there a standard for measuring borders for these purposes, in light of the coastline paradox? I don't mean to suggest that there's no sensible way to do it; I just wonder if people might be using inconsistent methods sometimes, leading to not-very-comparable estimates.

No, there isn't. You can be sure that the methods are inconsistent unless they come from the same author.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#247

But the real question... what will happen with .io TLD? (British Indian Ocean Territory's)

People will have to come up with something else besides "le acronym from le computer makes my domain sound le computery, even though there is no cognizable relationship to I/O whatsoever", I guess. (Just kidding, it'll be around forever)

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#248

I’ve been really sad getting older and having so much more context on Britain. My family weirdly had access to all of British TV in US growing up and they had fantastic programs. Now, I feel they are a joke. They seem like a strong example of what absolutely not to do. Their cultural exports have sunk. The arrested citizens for social media posts seems draconian. The economy barely hanging on. I understand the Media…

You’re just insane. It’s in the middle of the pack in the G7 in terms of size and recently at the top on growth. It does not have many problems that most other western countries do not also have. It’s significantly richer than Japan.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over simplification. By that argument, Americans can leave the US right now and give it back to the original inhabitants of the country. Various parties want more autonomy in New Caledonia which France is more than ready to give. The process is somewhat sabotaged by a tiny group of Marxist but it is moving in the right direction.

Take a better look at Fiji - the indigenous people there have been outnumbered by the people bought into the country from India (by the English) The Fijians have had multiple coup, and changes to their constitution to ensure that only indigenous people can run the country Whether I agree with that or not is beside the point, the point is that what you claim is false, what can happen has happened elsewhere, and where…

From what I've heard a lot of immigrants to New Caledonia came from Fiji. The problem isn't that Fiji is being overrun by Indians, it's that the Fiji people themselves are abandoning the island.

Re: When the sun will literally set on what's left of the British Empire

#250
post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is always funny to ask people what country has the longest land border with France.

It's funny because you can't measure borders due to the coastline paradox.

I'm not aware of any 2 countries having their border be a natural coastline
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