Text 4648, 66 rader
Skriven 2007-07-18 04:39:42 av Bob Ackley (1:2905/3)
   Kommentar till text 4601 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
Ärende: FidoNews 24:29 [02/06]: General Articles
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Replying to a message of Ross Cassell to Björn Felten:

 RC> Hello Björn!

 RC> 17 Jul 07 16:25, you wrote to Ward Dossche:

 WD>>> The Kingdom of Hawaii was not overrun by military power, annexed
 WD>>> and later forced into statehood? No?

 BF>>    It sure was one of the most disgusting acts of colonialism in
 BF>> modern time. But I personally like the story about Alaska more. At
 BF>> $7,2M when "purchased" from the Russians, I'd say it was a bargain.

 RC> The Hawaii thing didnt happen as horrendously as Wards sentence
 RC> infers, but US involvement wasnt a glittery bright spot.

The US did basically the same thing it did in Iraq four years ago.  The salient
difference being that the Hawaiian natives didn't put up a fight.

You might also want to look into the US actions in the Philippines from about
1898 to, say, 1915.

 RC> Louisiana Purchase wasnt that bad either.

 RC> Dont be bitching about Colonialism, the Americas became what they are
 RC> because of it. Spain, France and England then stir in a little dutch,
 RC> some Vikings, a little Leif Ericson and shake vigorously.

 RC> See how I mentioned Vikings, by this time they had abandoned paganism
 RC> and adopted christianity (horrors)!

 RC> Colonialism is something we learned from Europe, England being the
 RC> worst about it I suspect. I still question their need for the
 RC> Falkland Islands?

The British government is protecting the British citizens who live there.

 RC> and do remember attempts to Colonize Africa by European powers werent
 RC> glorified successes..

 RC> France had algeria, <Billy Joel singing> "Belgians in the congo"..

 RC> Then you had a hotbed of European racism in South Africa!

 BF>>    One interesting note about Alaska is that it was the only part of
 BF>> the North American continent that was occupied by the Japanese in
 BF>> WWII (the outer Aleutian Islands -- Attu, Agattu and Kiska).

 RC> The Japanese gambled and lost..

It wasn't much of a trick as none of the islands were fortified.

 RC> The Invasion of those places was supposed to have been a diversion to
 RC> lure our forces away from Midway and other Pacific Outposts.
 RC> Fortunately we didnt bite and successfully crushed the core might of
 RC> Japanese Naval power at Midway, this was seen as the turning point
 RC> and reversal of Japanese fortunes.

 RC> Of course we did suffer high casualties when we did turn our attention
 RC> to the occupiers of those places in order to evict them.

Actually, the Japanese evacuated most (but not all) of their troops from the
Aleutians without a fight.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:2905/3)