Opium Wars
| Opium Wars |
|---|
 Combat at Guangzhou (Canton) during the Second Opium War |
The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, lasted from 1839 to 1842[1] and 1856 to 1860,[2] the climax of a trade dispute between China under the Qing Dynasty and the British Empire. British smuggling of opium from British India into China in defiance of China's drug laws erupted into open warfare between Britain and China.Then the second opium war came.
China was defeated in both wars leaving its government having to tolerate the opium trade. Britain forced the Chinese government into signing the Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty of Tianjin, also known as the Unequal Treaties, which included provisions for the opening of additional ports to foreign trade, for fixed tariffs; for the recognition of both countries as equal in correspondence; and for the cession of Hong Kong to Britain. The British also gained extraterritorial rights. Several countries followed Britain and sought similar agreements with China. Many Chinese found these agreements humiliating and these sentiments are considered to have contributed to the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), and the downfall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, putting an end to dynastic China. The Opium Wars forcefully and suddenly opened China to the world.
try walking about with Opium today,
AntwortenLöschenBrits are so fickle
Britian didn't leave nice trail did it- but would they ever admit to wrong doing noooo-
AntwortenLöschenNeither did the French ,Belgian or Dutch ,eveybody has been bad ,some more than others,even today,but they shall remain nameless
AntwortenLöschenAmericans are so touchy
(these are 2 seperate statements)
oh my yes
AntwortenLöschenThe British used to have the decency at least to declare war on you and shoot up your port cities a little before you had to hand over your riches and natural resources. Nowadays it's all done through Wall Street and Madison Avenue. I guess it's a matter of taste which kind of empire you prefer, like pirates versus ninjas. And back in the day there used to be competing empires, which made for more interesting wars.
AntwortenLöschenpoor poppies,first they are nurtured then they are blasted with herbicides
AntwortenLöschenhttp://jmk2b.multiply.com/journal/item/10/CIA_Secret_Operations_Drug_Money
AntwortenLöschenhttp://jmk2b.multiply.com/journal/item/10/CIA_Secret_Operations_Drug_Money
AntwortenLöschen:)) one of my favourite items on Multiply, that. One of the blogs that inspired me to start this group.
AntwortenLöschenAnother fascinating thought Gurcan's post provokes is that of how open or isolated China is. Had these events not taken place, how might the alternative history unravelled? Could China still be a closed-shop dynastic kingdom today, or would the world of 'democracy' have invaded her by now? The Wall speaks volumes... impenetrable. Random thoughts, not yet fully formed. Just that the notion of an impenetrable kingdom with an emperor or dictator in charge, seems utterly out of sync with the expansion of free-trade and globalisation. It is fair to say that China is definitely no longer 'communist', no? Otherwise, I simply do not understand how it can be communist and do business with other nations such as the US.
AntwortenLöschenthat crossed my mind ,the world would have been a lot different if the English had not got into drugss,Queen Victoria was a user ,also of cocaine
AntwortenLöschenLet me make a point clear. This post is not about "British Imperialism" at all.
AntwortenLöschenIt is a page in history not told often enough.
The appearence of it changes over time (see Jim's comment), the essence does not:
"might makes right"
a century from now, the occupation of Iraq would be seen as another case of "might makes right"
AntwortenLöschenIraq is from a list of many(just from the last century alone),how far back do we go ,there is no end to Might ending up right because the winners write history,
AntwortenLöschenCountless events must have been lost this way ,the underdog or defeated evaporating into history
I think we can go as far into the past as there is written or archeological history and find the same thing again and again.My personal interest is in establishing (not speculating or presuming!) a few interrelated social behaviors of the animal called human(!); to some crude level.Those, then, might be stitched together to a broader (interrelated) behavioral model for human packs (*grin*). This crude, but a bit broader model could indicate a hypothesized consequence, either in response or as continuation of a policy.The next step would be to accept those as given and try to find social policies, which do not contradict those. For example, Marx' socialism did not take into account the human factor. It assumed that, by "motherhood and apple pie", people would learn to behave differently. They did not. Similarily, it can be claimed that "capitalism" so far seems to be working(?), because it is along the basics of human behavior: fear and greed, not against it.Over many years, politicians have even discovered (by guts feeling, by trial and error, by chance...) policies without confronting man’s innate behavior (compare the labor movements of the 19th and the early 20th century to today's capitalist countries!) It may look VERY ambitious. But, my scope is actually tiny: I am not after discovering a next "ideology", but to test if the process has any merit; i.e., to validate it.Hence, a tiny model with a few historical observations fused together is a good start. It would need to be followed by: postulate a crude social policy which would indicate a consequence. Not necessarily good or bad. Just an outcome. search the pages of history for a coincidental match of a similar policy, if I can find one at all.see if the consequence of that policy indeed had any resemblance to the outcome I have postulated.Wish me good luck to achieve any of those in the few years left ahead of me...:)))
AntwortenLöschenon Zeitgeist 2 with the venus project ,they said that crime .bad behavior would become irrelevant with a different social structure.Away from a moneytary system.
AntwortenLöschenAnd in Dianetics they suggest that man is essentially good but becomes bad with collective engrams that are locked and repeated.
When cleared the bad behavior of the reactive minds would also cease,
So there are suggestions that are well documented
THX...
AntwortenLöschenI do not expect much from "Dianetics".
I do not know about Zeitgeist 2. The idea is quite close for me to look in to.
I see your point. And I begin to understand what may have inspired you to post this...
AntwortenLöschenYou are right, of course, it's beyond deniability. But do you think you'd come to the same conclusion if you were a resident of Basra?
THX much for the link
AntwortenLöschenyou can easily download the movie in something like ares
AntwortenLöschen?
AntwortenLöschenmeaning if I were a Shiite in Iraq?
See... that is exactly the issue. People will ALWAYS have a very limited perspective. Inevitably. Hence, if you ask the Iraqi, the answer may be different depending. Or, if you ask an Israeli (if it still is this kind of Israel).
A bit like asking what the residents of Baghdad think about Mongolian invasion by Genghis Khan and his sons.
"I was told that those were the most vicious creatures who simply had joy in massacring people".
But, THAT in itself is also a "human trait"!!!
You cannot exclude the man's intuition to consider anyone else as hostile "unless proved otherwise".
Thus, we must include that in the model, too.
And if you try to establish policies against that, -it is not impossible, but..- will be VERY COSTLY.
For instance, trying to keep a public toilet clean.
It takes a lot of CONTINUAL effort to "teach" that to people;...that if you keep it clean, your chances to FIND it clean are highly increased.
But, that takes time and money. So much so, that San Francisco chose rather to have an "engineered" public toilet instead of "educating" its residents...After each use, it is automatically washed inside and out, blow dried, sanitized and THEN you can insert your coins and use it.
:)))
What a waste, you may think. But, think again! The alternative is to spend enormous amounts of money on educating people for social integrity. Not only that, you have to CONTINUE spending that money generation after generation...
Clearly, that is not the "feasible" solution.
See what I mean?
"You want to pee? OK cough up $3 (I made it up. Never had to use it). And you are allowed to leave as much mess as you please."
Yeah, the Iran-Contra affair and the "War on Drugs", which basically led to the U.S. being one of the top carceral societies in the world - there are over 2 million people in jails and prisons today!!! Mostly for minor drug offenses, not for any violent crimes. It's not the War on Drugs, it's the War FOR Drugs and war on the poor, especially those of color.
AntwortenLöschenI recommend watching "The American Drug War: The Last White Hope"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CyuBuT_7I4
So many genetic-engineers and not one can change the gene pool of those poppies or create a poppie specific herbicide focussing on poppies only.
AntwortenLöschenIn vietnam they used agent orange... and now? a wooden stick?
But I saw some comparisons between this old opium - war en the Afghan war.
http://geopolitics.multiply.com/notes/item/37?mark_read=geopolitics:notes:37
Notice how this old war crippled China and how the same type of war now cripples the US.
both ran out of money...
I hope Obama can make is 4 years full in office without redrawing troops.
The best thing for global politics would be a republican president who has to redraw from Afghanistan.
It has well turned out:)
AntwortenLöschen