Empires

During this series of ten, short videos entitled “Empires”, I will be talking (as the title obviously indicates) about Empires.
But before any of you turn away, thinking that it’s going to be a boring history lesson with no relevance to the present, I can assure you that it is relevant to the present. Indeed, I would actually go further than that. I would argue that it’s incredibly pertinent to the present. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that I think that it’s in your best interests to continue listening. I don’t want to overstate the case, (or be patronising) but I believe that it might provide you with some valuable insights regarding the world in which we live, putting you in a better position than you otherwise would be - especially with regard to what I believe is about to take place soon. I therefore think that you should perhaps take the trouble to listen to this series of videos.
That said, I hope that I have piqued your interest enough for you to continue listening.
I also hope, of course, that you won’t find it to be too boring.
At the very least, it might add to your knowledge by furnishing you with a few more facts – and this can’t be a bad thing, can it?

So, by way of an introduction to the topic, let’s turn our attentions to the British Empire.
We are all familiar, no doubt, with the British Empire as being arguably one of the largest Empires the world has ever seen. At its height, it encompassed a quarter of the world’s population.
I’m not going to give a full account of the British Empire – not by any means. That is way beyond the remit of this video.
But I will look at beginnings and endings, along with two countries which suffered as a result of British Imperialism.

Beginnings
So, let’s briefly consider Britain’s beginnings.
It could be said that the British Empire began in earnest under the reign of Elizabeth I who ruled Britain from 1558 to 1603. I should say that prior to 1500 Britain didn’t even exist as an entity.
During the reign of Henry VIII’s, 1509 to 1547, English rule was expanded in stages to include Ireland, Wales and Scotland. This movement then formed the Great Britain of our history books.
Britain, however, was not a unified whole and it wasn’t peaceful either – not at all. Ireland, for instance, was most certainly not a conquered nation. Many Irish rebelled against rule of the English (and for good reason). There were a series of uprisings and revolts. And these rumbled on down through the ages, indeed, all the way up until relatively recently.
I think though that our interests in this video are not in Britain itself, but in its Imperial ambitions, in the realms beyond the British Isles. So, to this end, if we had to chose to one particular point in time to denote the start of the British Empire, maybe it was the founding of the East India Company in 1600. For me, this represents the first real step made towards British Imperialism.
Envious of the success of Spanish, and to a lesser extent t

This is a follow on from the previous video which was about the beginnings of the British Empire.
In this video I will focus on India and in the next video I will focus on China and also the ending of the British Empire.
The East India Company
As I mentioned in the previous video, The East India Company was granted a Royal Charter by Elizabeth I in 1600. This charter gave it a monopoly to trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and West of the Straits of Magellan.
So the principal places involved in this matter are … the East Indies, or “the Spice Islands” as they were known back then (the Indonesian archipelago as it is now known), the Indian sub-continent (modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc) and China and elsewhere besides. This is quite a large area by any reckoning.
Anyway, thenceforth, the Company made its presence felt. The importance of this single entity to British Imperialism can not be underestimated. As an indication of its importance, knowing one fact should suffice. Between the mid 1700s and early 1800s, it came to account for half of the world’s trade. This is a truly astonishing achievement, as I’m sure you’d agree. It makes “Apple” look like a sports player in one of the lower leagues.
I should say though that the term “trade” doesn’t adequately describe what actually took place. What the company did went way beyond the bounds of mere trade - as I hope to demonstrate.
“Trade” also is something of an innocuous term. And what this Company did can not be considered harmless. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that a great deal of harm was caused by its operations. Trade relations certainly could not be characterised as being beneficial to both parties – something which should be the basis of any ordinary trade taking place. Moreover, it does something of a disservice to those poor souls on the other side of their “trade”.
“Pillage”, or “plunder” are perhaps better terms to describe what went on.
By way of example, on their very first expedition, they attacked a Spanish ship and stole all the hoard in the ships holds.
So what goods did The Company trade in? Spices, cotton, calico, silk, dye, sugar, as well as tea and opium (more on which in the next video).

The Indian sub-continent
Let’s turn our attentions to Indian sub-continent. This will provide us with a good example of how the British, or rather the Company – the British vanguard - operated.
The Company set up in Kerala where they traded in pepper which was grown locally and nutmeg which came from the East Indies.
Spices, like pepper and nutmeg, were the main traded commodity in the region at that time. They were highly valued items in Europe and could bring in great profits for the traders. So it’s not surprising that the Company wanted to get a part of that.
But the British Company struggled somewhat because the Dutch East India Company was, for various reasons, already well established in this sector.

This is a follow on from the previous two videos which concerned the beginnings of the British Empire and the British presence in the Indian subcontinent.
In this video I will focus on China.
China, evidently, can not be considered as being part of the British Empire, but I think it’s worth talking about because it shows how Empires are liable treat other sovereign states.
I mention China also because back then, China was itsef an Empire, coming under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. What is more, it could perhaps be regarded an Empire today, or at least an Empire in the making. I think it’s safe to say, that it currently has Imperial ambitions.
Anyway, that aside, back to the matter at hand … The British are famous around their world for their love of tea. Tea is grown in various regions of the world nowadays, but back in the 18th Century, the tea, so beloved by the British, came principally from China. Britain imported, not only tea from China, but silk and porcelain also. Much to the chagrin of the British, China didn’t want anything in return at least in terms of British products. The Balance of Trade between Britain and China during that time period was therefore tipped in China’s favour. Moreover, the tea, silks and other Chinese products were paid for by the British in silver. As a result, lots of silver was going out of the British coffers and travelling East. Needless to say, this rather displeased the British, so much so that they devised a devious plan.
They turned a great number of Chinese people into drug addicts. Over a stretch of time, they contrived to get a significant amount of the Chinses populace addicted to Opium.
Opium is a narcotic. It’s the made from sap of the Poppy plant. It’s the source from which all our opioids are made. Opioids are analgesics - they provide relief from pain. They are the pharmaceutical medicines like morphine, fentanyl, Codine, Oxycontin. And of course, Opium is made into the street drug, heroin.
Anyway, once addicted, the British then supplied the Chinese with however much Opium they needed. Put in colloquial terms, they got them hooked and then they fed their habit. Truth be told, this is really what all drug dealers should do - if they are interested only in making money, to the exclusion of everything else and, if they have no regard, or care, whatsoever for the well-being of other humans. And so, repugnant as this is, this is what the British Empire did.
Anyway, crucial aspect of this operation was that they ensured that the Opium was paid for by the Chinese in silver. This meant that silver started to travel back to Britain.
The effect of the addiction was tremendous, causing lots of social and economic problems in China. In the late 1830s, the authorities in China reacted by trying to outlaw Opium, closing Opium dens and executing dealers. Tensions between the two countries escalated, clashes occurred and so began the First Opium War. In 1840 British gunships were deployed and bombarded Canton

This is a follow on from the previous three videos which dealt with; the beginnings of the British Empire, the British presence in the Indian subcontinent and its relations with China.
In this video I will focus on the ending of the British Empire.
So, let’s turn our attentions now to that.
It could be argued that the British Empire started to disintegrate at the beginning of the 20th Century. However, the break up only really became apparent after WWII when countries, which were then colonies, one by one, gained their independence.
I’m not going to detail all the countries. That is far beyond the remit of this video. But instead, I will look at the countries of the Indian subcontinent.
On the 15th August 1947, the Indian subcontinent was divided into two separate dominions, India and Pakistan. As a result of the Partition, India and Pakistan gained their independence, becoming fully autonomous, nation states. The film “Ghandi”, released in 1982, is worth watching to get a view on this.
Bangladesh is a more complicated story for various reasons, reasons which I won’t go into here. The situation is, however, interesting, and could be a topic of a discourse in and of itself. Suffice to say, Bengal was made an autonomous province in 1937. At the time of Partition in 1947, East Bengal joined Pakistan. It then went on to become an independent state, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in 1971.
The small island nation of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon sitting at the southern tip of India, became an independent state in 1948.
To cut a long story short, we will pan out and fast forward to the very end. I’m aware that this misses out a massive amount of important material, but maybe I can come back to this in another video at a later date.
The British Empire could be thought of as coming to an end in 1997 with the handing back Hong Kong to the Chinese – the Republic of China.

Be that as it may, it could be claimed that the British Empire is not dead at all, but is in fact still alive, albeit in a rather diminished form (a very diminished form). Remnants of the British Empire still remain. There are places dotted around the world, still held by Britain. The British Overseas Territories, as they are called, include a sector of Antarctica, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands and The Falkland Islands (to name some).
The Falkland Islands are worthy of a side note. The islands have been a Crown Colony since 1841. In 1982, Argentina invaded and occupied “las Islas Malvinas” - as the Argentines called the islands. They had always disputed British claim and for good reason. You just need to take a quick look at a map to see why. But anyway, Margret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of Britain at the time, the “Iron Lady” as she was colloquially known as, was having none of it. She sent a task force down to recapture the islands amid much patriotic fervour and flag waving. The war lasted 10 weeks and the British were

In the previous videos, we looked at the British Empire – its beginnings and endings. We’ve also looked at the British Empire’s treatment of India and China. It’s now time to consider Empires in a more general manner.
In this video, I will focus on how Empires come into being.
Put in the simplest of terms, Empires are created by countries expanding the limits of their control beyond their borders. Control is crucial. Control is essential to an Empire because when you have control of a nation, you can direct it as desired. Conversely, when you don’t have control, or when you lose control of a nation, you can’t do anything.
The building of an Empire happens in various different ways.
 By using military might.
The most obvious method is by the use of force – armies invade and conquer the territory. We can look to the Roman Empire as an easy example. In AD 43 the Roman Empire, under the rule of Emperor Claudius, invaded and conquered Britain. The Romans had made several attempts before this, but none had been successful. Emperor Caesar tried twice in 55 and 54 BC. But failed both time. Emperor Claudius then succeeded where Caesar, did not. Even though the Romans were finally able to establish themselves as rulers in many parts of the country, the Romans didn’t manage to rule over the entirety of the British Isles. In the north of Britain, we can find the ruins of a wall built by the Romans. Hadrian’s wall, as it’s called, runs 73 miles (or 118 kilometres), all the way across the land, coast to coast, following an east west line. It was defended by garrisons of infantry, stationed in fortifications, placed at periodic intervals, along its length.
This wall defines the limit of the Roman Empire in the Western region. It’s the clearest demarcation of Roman rule that there can possibly be. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, they did not rule the land beyond, on the other side of the wall. They were unable to subdue the native inhabitants of what was back then, called Caledonia and is now, Scotland. The wild, warrior clans defied Roman rule by using what we would describe as nowadays as guerrilla warfare.
I only found this out recently, but the Romans also build another wall, further north – the Antonine Wall. The aim was to extend their rule that bit further. But they did not succeed in this endevaour. The clans of Caledonia were an unruly bunch. Deeming them ungovernable, the Romans gave up.
This example shows the importance of control to an Empire. Despite being a powerful Empire, with a mighty army at its disposal, they could not gain control of Caledonia.

Moving on, there are other methods of gaining control –
 By creating “spheres of influence” - dominions and protectorates etc.
We can gain an understanding of what diplomat’s call “spheres of influence” by looking at Persia (what is now called Iran). The history of Persia is a complex one, so I can only provide a couple snapshots here.
There was a contest between Britain and Russia for c

In the previous video we looked at how Empires come into being, specifically with regard to Miliary Might.
In this video I will focus on the Might of Money.
The use of force, or carrying out a Coup d’Etat, are means by which one country can control another. But these are rather obvious methods.
There are other, more stealthy means of gaining control –
 by making trade deals with the target nations.
 by the exercise of power in some financial concern, or other.
It should be said that money matters. Without money, Empires would struggle to survive.
Empires usually fall in no small part to monetary woes. The fall of both Roman Empire and the British Empire are good examples of this happening.
We use money every day as a means of exchange, but money more than just that. Money is important for another reason also. Money is a tool. And it can be used for the good, benefitting people, or it can be used for the bad, harming people. In this respect money then can be a weapon. It can be turned into a weapon of sorts and used for whatever nefarious purposes so desired.
Let’s turn our attentions back the British Empire again. More particularly, let’s look at The East India Company (that British vanguard) and its operations in the Indian subcontinent.
The Company turned the money into a weapon, not literally perhaps, but near enough. With the money they made from trading The Company were able to set up a standing army. In the first 150 years after it was established it employed a few hundred soldiers as guards. The following is an extract from Wikipedia. “The great expansion came after 1750, when it had 3,000 regular troops. By 1763, it had 26,000; by 1778, it had 67,000. It recruited largely Indian troops and trained them along European lines. The military arm of the East India Company quickly developed into a private corporate armed force used as an instrument of geo-political power and expansion instead of its original purpose as a guard force. Because of this, the EIC became the most powerful military force in the Indian subcontinent.

So, all that said, let’s have a look at the first of the two points I made regarding methods, the trade deals that are done with the target nations.

The best way to explain this is by way of an example. As I said in the previous video, the history of Persia is very interesting indeed and understanding it can give many insights into the world of geopolitics. So, let’s look at what happened in Persia …
The British Empire became interested in Persia once oil was discovered there in early 1900s. In 1908, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (the APOC) was set up.
I should say at this juncture, before we proceed any further, we often find a blending of state and company interests when it comes to Empires – indeed so much so that it’s not easy to see where one ends and the other begins. As a side note, the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini defined “Fascism” as being the merger of state and company interests. But anyway

What we will be focusing on in this video and in the next few videos is, as the title indicates, the American Empire.
Perhaps my saying this might be surprising for some of you to hear - because perhaps some people might not regard America as an Empire.
Be that as it may, the term Empire strikes me as the one that fits the best - America, after all, has been arguably the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world in modern times, has it not? Since perhaps the early part of the 20th Century and, I would argue, even earlier than that.
To put this issue more plainly, if an animal were to be described, if it was said to have a curly tail, a flat snout, was rather portly, pinkish in colour, lived on a farm and it oinked, the chances are, you would probably say that what had been described was a pig.
And I’m sure that most people, if told these descriptions, would probably also say it was a pig that was being described. We could all be wrong of course. But is that likely?
At the very least, I’m pretty sure that I’m right in saying that it’s not a dog, or a pony, or a duck. Anyway, I think I’ve made my point.
In any event, until such time as someone can, by using sound logic and by their powers of persuasion, make me change my thinking on the matter, I’m going to stick with the term I’ve used. And I’m going to continue to call America an Empire.

The reason that some of people might not regard America as an Empire, I would venture, is because America is not commonly spoken about in terms of being an Empire.
As far as I’m aware, such things aren’t really talked about. The American Empire is not a topic for ordinary discussion.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it doesn’t actually seem to be discussed anywhere – not in the MSM at any rate. I’ve never heard anyone on TV talk about the “American Empire”, or “the US Empire”. The terms “American Empire” or “the US Empire” are not broadcast to the world by any media outlets – not as far as I’m aware and not in so many words.
Nor is it a topic for study in classrooms in schools. There are no lessons on “the US Empire” in history at school.
Nor is it a topic for study in Universities. “The US Empire” is not a subject you can take a course in. “Gender Studies”, yes, “Transnational Queer Feminist Politics”, yes. “The US Empire”, no.
Neither teachers in a school, nor lecturers in higher education, assign any homework, or essays with titles such as “US Hegemony – good or bad? Discuss”. Or “American Imperialism and its impacts on Asia.” Not to my knowledge at any rate.
I’m aware that I’m probably wrong in the claims I’ve just made. Maybe there are in fact courses in University on the topic. I simply said such things in order to put my point across. And my point is, that it not discussed all that much, not to the extent that it should be anyway.
“American Imperialism”, “US Hegemony”, “The US Empire”, or “The American Empire” doesn’t get as much coverage as say “Critical Race Theory” (CRT). If these topics did, almost ever

In the previous video, I postulated the possibility of America being an Empire. In this video, I will endevaour to back up this claim with some evidence.
1. Military Might
Chalmers Johnson is an American scholar. He has written a brilliant book entitled “the Sorrows of Empire”. In this book, he writes about the presence of the US military in various places dotted around the planet. I will read / give you an extract from the book. “As of September 2001, the Department of Defence acknowledged at least 725 military bases existing outside of the United States”.
I’m not sure what the number of bases is today. But if you were to find out the number and the locations, you could pull out a map of the world and put pins in places were the US has established military bases, this would provide a very good visual representation of the situation and would perhaps give people pause for thought.
Let’s zoom in on Japan and take a quick look at what happened there after WWII. A military occupation of Japan started immediately after the Japanese unconditional surrender in August 1945. The Japanese military forces were disarmed and demobilised. US troops and soldiers from the Commonwealth Nations remained as an occupying force in the country until 1952. Allied soldiers numbered nearly 1 million. Tens of thousands of troops remained in-country even after Japan’s sovereignty was restored in 1952. During the Occupation, Allied forces set up bases in Japan – the most notable being the bases at Okinawa. There are 32 bases on the island of Okinawa with many thousands of military personnel even nowadays.
Fast forward a number of decades, under the auspices of the “War on Terror”, the US expanded its “foreign operations” greatly following the 9/11 attack in 2001.
Let’s zoom in and focus on Iraq. The US led coalition forces entered Iraq in 2003 and quickly overwhelmed Iraqi forces with their “shock and awe” campaign. The invasion was carried out because of intelligence claiming Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction which he was intending to use.
Saddam was toppled and later executed. Initially, the coalition forces were seen as liberators, but then they began to be regarded as an occupying force by Iraqis. In 2011, US troops began to be removed. 2,500 troops remain and will be there for the foreseeable future.
I’m now going to go back some 60 years from today to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
I’m sure most people are familiar with the incident. In a brief summary, Soviet missiles were being placed on Cuba. The US discovered this and were understandably rather concerned. There was a standoff between the two Superpowers. Fortunately for us all, an agreement was reached and thereby, all-out nuclear war was avoided. The agreement reached was that the missiles be removed from Cuba so long as that the missiles in Turkey and Italy in US bases were also removed. There’s a great film called “Thirteen Days” about Cuban Missile Crisis which is worth watching.

I should have mentioned this in a previous video, but I didn’t so, this is an addendum.
I want to define two terms. “Superpowers” and “Empires”. I have already defined an Empire. So, let’s look at what a Superpower is. Looking online the definition of a Superpower is “an extremely powerful nation, especially one capable of influencing international events”. I would say “supremely” rather than “extremely”, but this is perhaps being pedantic.
It would, in my opinion. be a mistake to confuse the two terms “Superpowers” and “Empires”. To equate one with the other would be wrong.
I think it’s fair to say that both the US and the Soviet Union emerged from WWII as Superpowers.
From early on in the war, Winston Churchill wanted the Americans to join and he secretly campaigned to bring this about. But, to no avail. It wasn’t until after Pearl Harbour in December 1941 that the US got involved in the war. Then, their being on the side of the Allies, proved to be a decisive factor in defeating the Axis powers and bringing the war to an end. This gives us a good indication of the strength of the US. The US can therefore reasonably be regarded as a Superpower.
I think that the terms Superpowers and Empires are related, but we perhaps should be wary about saying that all Superpowers are necessarily Empires.
I think it’s true to say an Empire needs to be a Superpower in order to be an Empire. It can not be an Empire, if it’s not a Superpower. Andorra, for instance, is a sovereign microstate located in the Pyrenese mountain range, between Spain and France. It can not be regarded as a Superpower and so it’s unlikely to become an Empire any time soon.
I’m not sure that it goes the other way though. The converse is not necessarily true. A Superpower need not be an Empire. A nation might have the status of being a Superpower, but it might chose not have any Imperial ambitions, or any take Imperial actions. My guess is that this is rarely the case, but nevertheless, the point still stands.
So the key aspect of an Empire is some kind of movement beyond its borders. The USSR can accordingly, then be considered as an Empire as it expanded its control beyond its borders. Throughout the Cold War, it controlled the various nations on its side of the Iron Curtain thus providing a buffer between it and the nations of NATO.
What about the US? I would say that if we are using the same criteria, it qualifies as an Empire also because it has moved beyond its borders.
You might protest at my saying this. You might counter my claims that the US was merely defending itself and its interests, after all, it came under attack from the Japanese. I would be inclined to agree.
However, I would have to respond to this by saying that once the Cold War was over, it didn’t then revert back to its original position and its “Isolationist” policies. What is more, it continues on with its “Imperialist” policies to this very day.
Also, as a side point it should be said that the US might hav

In the last video but one, I gave evidence to back up the claim I made that America was an Empire. The evidence I gave was with regard to America using its Military Might in the world.
In this video, I will consider the tactics of coercion the US uses in the realm of Economics.
Throughout the course of this video, I would encourage you to think in terms of Control.
The use of Military Might etc are rather obvious methods of control. Controlling by financial means are less apparent, more subtle. But for all their subtly, they can be just as powerful, as I hope to demonstrate.
Just to recap, some stealthy means of gaining and maintaining control are –
 by making trade deals with the target nations.
 by the exercise of power in some financial concern, or other.
Let’s turn our attentions to Iran to consider this first point - making trade deals with the target nations. In this instance, though it’s more like NOT making trade deals with the target nations because I’m going to be talking about sanctions.
Sanctions are one of the strongarm tactics the US uses in the realm of Economics.
Sanctions were imposed on Iran as far back 1979. Why? Because a large group of Iranian radical students entered the American Embassy in Tehran and took US citizens in the compound, hostage. This was the reason given for the sanctions, but if we pan out a little, we can see what took place in a wider context. Most notably, the Shah, the US puppet, was toppled by a revolution in January 1979 after several years of struggle. Needless to say this displeased the Americans.
The sanctions were lifted after the hostages were released in 1981. Sanctions were then reimposed on Iran in 1987 due to various, on-going issues prior to that. In 1995, sanctions were expanded to include firms making arms deals with Iran. A third round of sanctions were imposed in 2006 when Iran failed to comply with UN resolution 1696 which concerned Uranium Enrichment. The sanctions were aimed at thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Talks in 2016 resulted in a deal being done and the sanctions were then lifted. In 2018, President Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and sanctions were then reinstated.
The sanctions, spearheaded by the US, were on oil, gas, petro-chemicals and also included shipping, web-hosting, banking and insurance.
Needless to say the various sanctions, which have been imposed over the years, have hit the Iranian economy hard.
This is how the US treats nation states that it regards as enemies.
Before we go any further, I wish to say one thing. To all those American out there who might be offended by what I have been saying about America, I want to say this. I draw a definite distinction between the American people and the American Administrations. I should say that I’m not anti-American per se. It would be wrong for people to conclude that. I’m against the American Administration’s behaviour in both the past and the present - the policies that they have been pursuing. B

This video and the next, looks at the US Empire and its involvement in the banana business.
There is quite a tale to be told about bananas, so allow me to tell it to you. By the end of these two videos, I would venture to say that you might never see bananas in quite the same way again.
In 1870, an American by the name of Lorenzo Baker, came across bananas growing on the island of Jamacia in the Caribbean. (Bananas actually originate from Asia. The Portuguese are responsible for bananas being grown in the Americas.) But anyway … Baker spied an opportunity and decided to start selling them to Americans.
Initially, trade was, as to be expected, rather sluggish. But funnily enough, bananas proved to be a favorite of people attending the World Fair in Philadelphia in 1876. After that, word spread and Americans quickly developed a taste for bananas. Indeed, eating bananas became something of a craze. This meant that the banana business really began to boom.
But although sales started to soar, all was not so straightforward in the banana business. Bananas are somewhat problematic products in that they are a particularly perishable. Care and attention need to be paid to their handling because they can easily get damaged. And, as everyone knows, once damaged, bananas spoil. Also, they have a relatively short shelf life which means that the producer has to get them to the consumer as fast as possible before they go bad and become inedible. So, in order to ensure the product arrives in the best possible condition, transportation from plantation to the store has to be done as quickly as possible and also, as effectively and carefully as possible, so as to avoid any damage being done. Such issues aren’t easy to overcome and inevitably add to the costs of production. Furthermore, this meant that in order to make any money, a lot of bananas had to be sold.
To meet the new rising demand, to overcome any issues in transportation and to turn a profit, two big banana companies in operation in America at the time, decided to join together to form one, big company, “The United Fruit Company”. Merging made sense, because it enabled them to achieve economies of scale as well as being better able to control the supply chain.
The new enterprise established plantations in Guatemala. Soon enough they owned a fifth of the farmable land there. Over time, they expanded their operations into different countries throughout Latin America - Costa Rica, Honduras in Central America, the coastal areas of Columbia in South America, and Cuba in the West Indies. To give you an idea of scale, according to Wikipedia, “by the 1930s, they owned 3.5 million acres of land” in Latin America.
The UFC established communities in and around the plantations. On cursory inspection, such a thing might seem not too bad, as shops were set up and people were given places to live, but looking a little harder, things could be seen somewhat differently. The workers of the UFC were not treated very we

This is a follow on from the previous video I did on the banana business. If you haven’t seen that video, I would recommend you doing so before watching this one.
Let’s now zoom in on three other countries to get a better understanding of how the United Fruit Company and the US Government conducted themselves.

Colombia
In 1928, some Colombian workers protested at their poor working conditions and low pay. On 12th November of that year, they went on strike. The Company was displeased by this. It refused to negotiate with the workers. The Company also made appeals to the US Administration. Its aim was to get the US Administration to apply pressure to the Colombian government. The Company claimed that the protestors were Communist revolutionaries. It was hoped that by saying this, it would sway the decision. Whether the US believed the story that the UFC had spun about the workers being Communists or not, they duly obliged and they made contact with the Colombian government. The US threatened to invade unless the problem was dealt with – i.e. to act in such a way as to protect the interests of the UFC. The Colombian government capitulated. On December 5th 1928, the protestors gathered in a town square. Colombian troops who had been dispatched to the location, then opened fire on the protestors, killing men, women and children. This was called “the Banana Massacre”.

Costa Rica
The situation for workers in Costa Rica was pretty bad across different sectors of the economy – not just in banana industry. And so, in the early parts of the 20th Century workers began to organise themselves into unions. They then pushed for reform, demanding improvements in general working conditions, a minimum wage and shift work of a maximum of six hours a day. They also called for a number of strikes.
In 1934 many thousands of peasants who worked for the UFC went on strike. This was dubbed “the Great Banana Strike”. On this occasion, the Company engaged in talks with the unions. Promises were made which brought the strike to an end. But the promises were never made good by the Company. Meanwhile, again, as in Columbia, the protesters were labelled as Communist insurrectionists.
To cut a long story short, despite this setback, Costa Rica could be regarded as something of a success story for the workers. They held out, and, in due course, gained some improvements in working conditions having signed an agreement with the Company in 1938.

Guatemala
In Guatemala in the 1950s, the democratically elected leader Arbenz was trying to bring about change in the country. He instituted some land reforms, distributing property to some landless peasants. It should be noted that the UFC owned 50% of the land in Guatemala at the time. Owning land was one way they been able to prevent competition and maintain market dominance. Some of the land they owned was left uncultivated and this is the issue Arbenz was addressing.
Needless to say, the UFC didn’t much care for his approach. In r

There are other Empires in history that I wish to speak about, even if it’s only in passing ...
I should say that I have already talked about a few along the way through the course of this mini-series … namely, the Roman Empire, the Mughal Empire and the Persian Empire.
Permit me to list a few more.
The Inca Empire
The Byzantine Empire
The Mongolian Empire
The Ottoman Empire
The Babylonian Empire
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
I’m not going to talk about these Empires in this video besides listing them.
Why then, you might ask yourselves, have I bothered to do a video on them at all? Well, I’ve done so for a very specific reason.
Sometimes the lessons life offers up to us are supremely simple. This is one of those times.
These Empires share two things in common. The first is entirely self-evident. They are all Empires.
I will tell you the other aspect presently. Perhaps you have already guessed what it might be.
But, if you want to think about it for a bit before me telling you, then pause the video here. I will give you moment to do so.

The second thing that these Empires share in common is that none of them exist now.
Each and every one has ended at some point in the past.
They are all history.
The simple truth is that Empires come and Empires go.
They come into being, they increase, building in size, strength and stature and then, they reach a high point, their peak and they then start to decline, diminishing in size, strength and stature and then, they eventually stop existing altogether.
I’m aware that the picture that I’ve painted above, describing the life cycle of an Empire, is not an accurate representation of reality. Empires don’t necessarily follow this uniform pattern. Their rise and fall are not quite so orderly. Empires vary in nature considerably.
In some respects, Empires can be likened to the lives of a human. All people are born. That is a given. But all are born differently. The circumstances of birth can differ a great deal – be it a natural birth, or Caesarean section. A short labour, or a long, drawn-out labour. The circumstances into which they are born differ enormously also – the type of family that they are born into – rich, or poor. Their place of birth – country, or community etc.
People lead very different lives. There’s no need for me to go into details about that.
People die in different ways also. The causes of death are different for different people. Some might die suddenly, due to a heart attack for example, while others might grow old gradually and the process of their dying is relatively slow.
In any event, the point that I’m trying to make, is that Empires come and go.
Simple truths can be somewhat deceptive though … what I mean by this is one might skip over them without considering them and their implications fully. For me, the fact that Empires die is a profoundly important point. It makes me wonder about the reasons for their existence - the meaning of their life. It calls into question why they cam

This video then is the denouement of the mini-series about Empires.
As I claimed in my previous video, the American Empire is dying. In this video, I will endeavour to back up this claim with some evidence.
Before we go any further, I just wish to say that … warning people about the death of the American Empire is the principal reason for me making this mini-series on Empires. Forewarned is forearmed.
Anyway …
Why is the American Empire dying? It’s dying because the Dollar is dying. The cause of the death of most Empires is due, generally speaking, to economic woes. The USSR lost the Cold War and later collapsed completely, in part because it couldn’t outspend the US in the arms race, but over-extended itself trying to do so.
Why is the Dollar dying? The Dollar is dying because it’s a Fiat Currency. It’s not backed by anything. It has no intrinsic value, in and of itself. I refer you to a previous video I did entitled, “Fiat Currencies” to get a better understanding of this matter.
The Dollar was previously backed by gold before 1971. Backing a currency with Gold is hugely important. This is known as the Gold Standard. I also refer you to three videos I did previously entitled, “The Gold Standard”, “Money” and “Money v Currencies” to get a better understanding of these matters.

But one event changed the situation: the Nixon Shock in 1971. I refer you to a video I did previously entitled, “the Nixon Shock” to get a better understanding of this matter.
So, the Dollar has been propped up by two things. Firstly, since 1945, it’s held the World Reserve Currency status and secondly, since 1973, it’s been backed by the Petro-Dollar System. The World Reserve Currency has kept the US dollar in its privileged position and the Petro-Dollar System has provided support, support which it would otherwise not have had.
I refer you to two videos I did previously entitled, “The World Reserve Currency” and also “The Petro-Dollar System” to get a better understanding of these matters.
The Bretton Woods Agreement in 1945 made the Dollar into the World Reserve Currency.
I refer you to a video I did previously entitled, “The Bretton Woods System” to get a better understanding of this matter.
The World Reserve Currency status and the Petro-Dollar System are failing. The Petro-Dollar System has been failing for a few years. Both are yet to fail entirely but I would say that the end is nigh. In recent times, many countries have been de-Dollarising and off-loading US Government issued Bonds.
I have a moving image in mind of the twin towers that came down in the 9/11 attacks. First one came down, and then the other. I think this is not dissimilar to what is happening and what will happen. And the actual end part might be just as sudden. One minute they are standing and the next they are heaps of metal, debris and dust.
When will it happen? I can only answer this by saying, who knows. Timings are tricky. I think we can probably say that we are in the final phase. It ha

I should perhaps have mentioned this earlier but … I can make available the transcripts of all the videos I have so far made to anyone who wishes to have a copy. I have put a lot in the descriptions sections below the videos but there is a word limit.

I should say that I’m not too concerned about copyright issues. I’m not in this to make money. I’m only interested in getting the information out there as widely as possible in order to put an end to the misrule of those people who are in charge at present.

I am alas, not brilliant when it comes to technology. So, if there is anyone who happens to be more tech savvy than me – this should include most of the people on the planet and even some orangutans - and they can suggest a way of my doing this, I would appreciate it. Just leave suggestions in the comments.

Wise up and rise up.

In this video, I’m going to be talking about Corruption in the so-called “Developed” nations of the Western world.

When considering corruption, we might automatically think of certain states in Africa, or in Asia, or in South America. We might scornfully shake our heads at what goes on in these supposedly “under-developed” nations, but all the while, not realising that corruption actually exists in our own countries.

I would argue that we have a great deal of corruption in the Western world, but that it’s of such a subtle nature, that it goes largely unnoticed and unchallenged.

I would also say that its effect is perhaps just as pernicious as if the corruption were more explicit.

realms of corruption
We have corruption in many different areas. I have divided these into realms. The three principal realms are Politics, Economics and Society. These are artificial distinctions that I have drawn to aid understanding. In reality, there is a great deal of cross-over in these realms.

I should also perhaps have included a fourth realm - Moral – but this is something altogether more vague and open to interpretation, so I’m not going to bother about it here.

For a quick overview …

Political Corruption
This should, by now, be entirely evident in whatever country you live in. It exists both at the national and the local levels. Corruption at whatever level, I believe, creates serious impediments to the good functioning and overall well-being of a nation state.

Economic Corruption
This should be evident in the various financial systems that are in operation in our Economies. In Central Banking (more on which momentarily) and in Banking as well as in various National and International Financial Institutions throughout the world and also with regard to Multinational Corporations.

Societal Corruption
Throughout my years of being interested in the topics of Politics, Economics and Society, I keep on coming across manipulations which could fall into the category of “Social Engineering”. I’m only going to mention this in passing here. Suffice to say, that this could be a topic for discussion in a video in and of itself.

What I’m going to talk about next, should begin to explain what I mean about corruption in the Political and Economic realms.

Central Banking
Let’s now focus on Central Banking.

In my opinion, the most obvious example of corruption in the West, is Central Banking.

To my mind, Central Banking is a complete con. Maybe I’m mistaken, but as far as I can see, there is no need for a Central Bank in the creation of currency in an economy.

I refer you to a video I made, entitled, “Central Banking - a Complete Con” to get more of an understanding on this matter. I have actually made four, short videos on this topic – one of which is in relation to the history of Central Banking in America which provides a historical context to Central Banking.

By the way, Mike Maloney on YouTube does a very good job of showing the operation of Centra; Bank

This video is a follow on from the previous video dealing with Corruption in Western nations. If you haven’t seen that video, I would recommend you doing so before watching this one.

Fractional Reserve Banking
Let’s now consider the banking sector.

If you want another example of corruption – specifically with regard to collusion between government and financial institutions, we just need to consider “Fractional Reserve Banking”.

I’m not going to give you a full account of this, instead, I shall refer you to a video I made, entitled, “Banking – Fractional Reserve Banking” to get more of an understanding on this matter.

Put as succinctly as possible, the “Fractional Reserve System” allows banks to create currency out of nothing when they make loans to customers and then they charge interest on those loans. Needless to say, this is a very profitable enterprise for the banks.

I should mention that there’s nothing illegal about “Fractional Reserve Banking”. This process is entirely legal. Not only does it come within the bounds of the law, it’s actually ordinary banking practice. But, to my mind, it’s one of the biggest scams in history.

Given that it’s upheld by law, should perhaps make you call in question the laws of the land. It certainly makes me question both the laws and law makers.

We have to conclude that Governments are complicit in this scam because they must be aware of the situation and yet they do nothing.

Manipulation in the Precious Metals Markets
To give you yet another example of corruption – again, with regard to collusion between government and financial institutions, we can also consider what happens in the precious metals markets.

I’m not going to go into detail here as I’ve already made a few videos on this topic … Suffice to say, precious metals are manipulated for financial gain, but, more importantly, in order to disguise the true value of the Dollar – or more correctly, the Federal Reserve Dollar. If they didn’t manipulate precious metals in the way that they do, the world would see the parlous state of the Federal Reserve Dollars in use today – everybody would realise that they are virtually worthless. When it comes to the value of currencies, gold and silver are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine.

I refer you to three videos I made, entitled, “Manipulation in the Precious Metals Markets” to get more of an understanding on this matter.

Unlike the previous two examples I’ve given, these manipulations aren’t legal and banks like JP Morgan have actually been prosecuted and fined by the financial regulators for rigging the precious metals markets. But the fines aren’t much of a deterrent, amounting to the financial equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Nothing else bad happens to the banks. And so, they just continue doing the manipulations without any real impediment.

Once again, we are obliged to conclude that Governments are complicit in this manipulation because they must be aware of the situation and yet