a cleareyed defense of imperialism
...was delivered by Winston Churchill, then First Sea Lord, to Parliament a few months before the outbreak of World War I. He spoke in defense of a proposal to spend 52,800,000 pounds sterling to build four new dreadnoughts--the sine qua non of military might in that era, roughly equivalent to today's nuclear submarines, long-range bombers, cruise missiles, ICBMs and strategic missile defense rolled into one. It is remarkably unsentimental, apart from one necessary nod to the fiction of noble purpose:
"Two things have to be considered: First, that our diplomacy depends in great part for its effectiveness upon our naval position, and that our naval strength is the one great balancing force which we can contribute to our own safety *and to the peace of the world* [emphasis added--the obligatory touch of selflessness]. Second, we are not a young people with a blank record and a scant inheritance. We have won for ourselves, in times when other powerful nations were paralysed by barbarism or internal war, an exceptional, disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world. We have got all we want in territory, but our claim to be left in undisputed enjoyment of vast and splendid possessions, largely acquired by war and largely maintained by force, is one which often seems less reasonable to others than to us."
"largely acquired by war and largely maintained by force" -- doesn't resemble the spheres of influence of anyone *I* know--how 'bout you?
cordially,
