Archbishop of Canterbury: US ‘is worse than the British Empire at its peak’
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a stinging attack on America, comparing it unfavourably with the British Empire at its peak. Dr Rowan Williams condemned America for moving on from Iraq and leaving others to “put it back together”. In an interview with Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel, reported in The Sunday Times, the head of the Church of England said America’s attempts to accumulate influence and control around the world were “not working”.
Grab your umbrellas, ‘cuz the shitstorm about to emanate from this side of the pond should prove to be something to behold. The truth of the matter is the neoConservatives don’t take well to being called on their authoritarian, kill-‘em-all-let-God-sort-‘em-out ways. While they will undoubtedly scream and rant about the unfairness of the Archbishop’s accusations, they can’t reasonably refute them. The reality is that this iteration of American imperialistic hegemony makes much of the old British Empire look like a walk in the park. No, the Brits were hardly known for being good guests- they took what they wanted and subjugated those who didn’t play along- but not even they dove headlong into a war of aggression and occupation purchased wholesale with lies, propaganda, and altered, cherry-picked intelligence. Nor did they ever waste ever-increasing amounts of their own blood and treasure to feed their monarch’s ego.
Even more important, I think, than the veracity of the Archbishop’s charges is the fact that perception is reality, and the reality now is that most of the world sees America as a nation of shoot-first, employ-diplomacy-later, self-interested thugs who care about nothing except power, control, and money…and not necessarily in that order.
Like it or not, America is reviled around the world for this government’s unrepentant cowboy diplomacy and for it’s absolute conviction that as the world’s only remaining superpower, it can do what it wants when it wants and in whatever manner it chooses. Not exactly a great way to make friends and influence enemies, eh?
Ah…ain’t empire grand?
