Graham Fuller on the Fall of the British Empire: From “The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire” to “Brown and Swarthy People” Challenging British Brains and American Brawn, the Rise of BRICS, and Germany’s Exceptionally Dangerous Direction

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Graham Fuller on the Fall of the British Empire: From “The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire” to “Brown and Swarthy People” Challenging British Brains and American Brawn, the Rise of BRICS, and Germany’s Exceptionally Dangerous Direction Graham E. Fuller: It’s important to look at history, Nima, particularly the incredible history of the British Empire. I mean, it was one of the longest-running and largest empires in the world. I think its only real rival was perhaps the Ottoman Empire. I don’t know exactly, but Britain has never fully recovered from losing its empire. They were always number one across the world. The slogan was that the sun never sets on the British Empire—it was everywhere, all the time. They didn’t use these exact words, perhaps, but the idea was that they were number one in the world. So, the collapse of the UK after the pressures of World War II was a terrible blow. I don’t think the UK has ever fully recovered. In that context, they seized on the close alliance and friendship with the United States as a kind of leverage for maintaining their own power. Some even used the phrase that between British brains and intelligence and American brawn and strength, it was an unbeatable combination. Britain would tell America where to go, what to do, what wars to fight, and how to use its military strength to perpetuate even British goals. That’s a very important background to this whole situation. I think the British still feel very much left out of it. They have deep imperial instincts—perhaps more than any other country in Europe. And frankly, at this point—and we’ve talked about this before—I think Europe as a whole is absolutely without leadership, vision, direction, or even a clear sense of identity: who they are, where they are, and what they want to be in the future. They may have thought, “Okay, we’re part of the great American empire,” and perhaps saw themselves as honorary members of that empire. But that hasn’t worked out as well as expected. And now that Trump seems like he might even abandon NATO and the war in Ukraine, Europeans are absolutely horrified. Who are the Europeans at this point? What are their interests? What are EU interests? What are their own national interests? Surely, they are not necessarily aligned with America’s interests—whether it’s going to war in Syria, Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan. America has always wanted Europe to contribute to and be part of these wars. But now, perhaps the Europeans are finally beginning to think, “Wait a minute—do we really want to do this? Do we want to join every American war? Is that really in our interest?” And now you see the rise of China. In particular, the United States is telling Europe, “Don’t deal with China—it’s a dangerous country, and we have to stick together.” But I think the EU is beginning to wonder: Do we really want to ignore China? Should we keep China at arm’s length? Do we want to be hostile toward China? This whole emergence of the BRICS is a truly shocking event. Here are all these brown and swarthy people from countries around the world who are now suddenly emerging with powerful economies and a new voice on the global stage. If you look at the map—where is Europe? It’s just this tiny little tail end of Eurasia. Is that what Europe is now? Is that where they’re going? Will they want to sign up as part of greater Eurasia? That might actually make some sense. But you can see now the struggle within Europe—the internal question: “Oh my God, who are we? Where are we going? What’s happening to us? What do we do now?” The leadership is terrible and not even fully democratic, in the sense that nobody elected Ursula von der Leyen. Nobody elected half of these leaders. And Germany, right now, I think, is moving in an exceptionally dangerous direction.

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10:10 AM · May 31, 2025

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https://x.com/apocalypseos/status/1928604993411756126