BLUF:
[GatesNotes] French also argues against the idea that labor by enslaved people from Africa made only a marginal contribution to the rise of the West. For example, he writes, "The value derived from the trade and ownership of slaves in America alone [was] greater than that of all of the country’s factories, railroads, and canals combined." And more generally: "Without Africa, and the slave plantation agriculture of the Caribbean that derived from it, there would never have been the kind of explosion of wealth that the West enjoyed ... nor such early or rapid industrialization."
#7
All that stuffed in his mouth about turn of the 16th century Euro/Afro relations and doesn't mention the Ottoman Empire and its easier access to Africa, and the Islamic slave trading; Mali well known to produce gold and slaves and being unscrupulous as to who they traded with.
During this time period, it was Spain trying to keep pace with Portugal so the review stops right there. Portugal basically designed their age equivalent of the Apollo program, but without maps. Portugal was also buffered by Spain from the constant slave raids of the North Africans who accumulated so much wealth in the slave trade they purchased and alliance with The Ottoman Empire.
So he's got it all backwards, again.
Sugar, and cotton, being luxuries, as well as cinnamon, clove, and other Indian spices being driven by success at home harvesting and utilizing European resources, organization, and social drive.
And where it falls apart:
The value derived from the trade and ownership of slaves in America alone [was] greater than that of all of the country’s factories, railroads, and canals combined
Were slaves used to assist construction of railroads and canals, or were railroads and canals built to support slave breeding camps?
#9
Gates attempting to do to journalism what he did to computer software.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
06/20/2023 13:02 Comments ||
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#10
Yes, the South was quite wealthy in 1860. But then something happened that wiped out all their wealth and anything attributable to slave labor. By 1865 the South was desperately poor and would remain that way for some time. Any and all benefits of slave labor were destroyed.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/20/2023 13:35 Comments ||
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#11
Plantation Complex Slavery, specifically developed for sugar production, was adopted by Europeans after its Introduction from N Africa to Southern Spain by the Moors.
#12
Gates is a modern day robber baron, grasping for legitimacy.
Reality was/is that slavery is a sign of economic weakness. It only produces products where there is no value added, margins are razor thin, and slave work is replaced by beasts of burden or mechanized as soon as these options are available.
Come down south and compare the plantation homes to the mansions in the northeast.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
06/20/2023 14:19 Comments ||
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#13
The North benefited from southern slavery. The southern states were a big market for northern factRoy goods. When one of his cabinet members suggested letting the south go Lincoln said, "my god man who will pay our tarrifs?" The southern states provided about 80% of money that went to the government.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/20/2023 16:06 Comments ||
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#14
The guy is really an idiot, so vulnerable to propaganda.
#2
/\ Something many have suspected since Project Paperclip. Unlike the US Space program however, the parallel was a verboten topic until millions fell ill and died.
#3
There's a very nasty story out of Boston yesterday involving drag queens, drugs, dildos, a dead body and of course... children. Because of course. Also of course, the story isn't even 24 hrs old and it's been memory holed.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/20/2023 13:00 Comments ||
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[BEE] PHILADELPHIA, PA — Prominent theologians speculated the world may be on the cusp of a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit after President Joe Biden and Senator John Fetterman began speaking in unknown languages and tongues of fire came to rest on them during a joint public appearance.
"This may prove to be a modern-day Pentecost," said Rev. Brian Ross. "Though we don't have any reports of anyone in the crowd hearing words spoken in their own language, we are hopeful that the Holy Spirit descended on the event. If it wasn't the Holy Spirit, then we're all in serious trouble."
Biden and Fetterman both gave brief remarks, or so witnesses assumed. "At least we think they were saying words," said Jim O'Brien, who was present at the event. "No one could understand them, but it seemed different from the normal grunts and growls Senator Fetterman makes when he's not trying to speak. President Biden was definitely attempting to say something, though it was in a language that is not of this world."
Some people in the crowd were confused, others were horrified, and still, others had their faith strengthened. "The Spirit of the Lord can still move today!" shouted one charismatic believer. "I've met a lot of people who have the gift of tongues, but Biden and Fetterman put on a far more impressive display than any I've ever seen."
At publishing time, the nation's foremost theologians were still hard at work searching for anyone with the spiritual gift of interpretation to translate what Biden and Fetterman said.
#3
Everybody was up in arms when DeSantis’ campaign on twitter went sour but trying to listen to Fettermen flat out made my head hurt. Too bad, PA, you used to be such a nice state. Andthat drooling POS next to him, called a collapsed bridge, there was not an ounce of reaction…. Both have severe brain issues and need committed.
[Ron Paul Institute] Most people agree that we are closer to nuclear war than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Some would even argue that we are closer now than we were in those fateful days, when Soviet missiles in Cuba almost triggered a nuclear war between the US and the USSR.
In those days we were told that we were in a life-or-death struggle with Communism and thus could not cede a square foot of territory or the dominoes would fall one-by-one until the "Reds" ruled over us.
That crisis was very real to me, as I was drafted into the military in the middle of the US/USSR standoff over Cuba and we could all feel how close we were to annihilation.
Fortunately, we had a president in the White House at the time who understood the dangers of nuclear brinkmanship. Even though he was surrounded by hawks who could never forgive him for aborting the idiotic Bay of Pigs Cuba invasion, President John F. Kennedy picked up the telephone for a discussion with his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, which eventually saved the world. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev had served, survived world conflict, and knew something about war.
Historians now tell us that President Kennedy agreed to remove US missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Soviets removing missiles from Cuba. It was a classic case of how diplomacy can work if properly employed.
It is all too clear that we do not have a John F. Kennedy in the White House today. Although we no longer face a Soviet empire and communist ideology as justification for taking a confrontational tone toward Russia, the Biden Administration is still dragging the US toward a nuclear conflict. Why are they putting us all at risk? The same old "domino theory" that was discredited in the Cold War: If we don’t fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian, Putin will soon be marching through Berlin.
#4
I don't want a 'Peace President'. I do want a president that understands what "Imperial Overreach" is and is determined to avoid it --- Just because it is a problem doesn't mean we have to fix it!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[BEE] PHILADELPHIA, PA — Prominent theologians speculated the world may be on the cusp of a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit after President Joe Biden and Senator John Fetterman began speaking in unknown languages and tongues of fire came to rest on them during a joint public appearance.
