Some colonial comic relief, maybe

Here is my thumbnail sketch of colonialism: it began with the Vikings (disclosure: I am part Norwegian).  The ‘Norsemen’ raided what became known as Normandy, France.  The Normans then conquered England in 1066, and all that.  The marauding spirit of the Norsemen may have helped launch multiple Crusades to the Middle East.  Puritans and other religious dissenters came to leave England in the mid -17^th century for a more ‘open’ America. Much later, a Quaker (!) by the name of Nixon travelled all the way to China in 1972, and did so in the name of ‘opening it up’.  Now we need to reckon also with Chinese colonialism, but nobody wants to talk about that.

Yet the 21st century belongs to India – not China, certainly if we look into the future of demographic numbers.  Look, as well, to the example of political leaders: Rishi Sunak, Kamala Harris, and Leo Varadkar. In addition, there’s the disproportionate number of Indian origin high-tech CEO’s in the USA, and elsewhere.  Moral of the story: if I could select my own colonizer: I would prefer England over France (look, for example, to its results in Africa), over Russia, and over China.  I am leaving out the Dutch, and I certainly don’t wish to be colonized (any further) by the USA.  As a Canadian, I would rather be speaking English or French, than required Russian or Chinese.