What does the UK, France and the Netherlands have in common?

[Husar]

The imperialists brought them the idea that everybody has to look out for himself first, corruption is somehing the colonial empires should pay them for. Their politicians just adopted the stance of the former colonial powers which means the powerful can do with the weak what they want.

And since noone bothered to build schools and libraries for the slaves since schools and libraries do not export colonial goods, they cannot educate themselves or their children on how to improve their countries.

[Tellos Athenaios]

And since noone bothered to build schools and libraries for the slaves since schools and libraries do not export colonial goods, they cannot educate themselves or their children on how to improve their countries.

Take up the White Man's burden.

[Husar]

Take up the White Man's burden.

I wasn't the one who claimed that colonialism was a charity effort.

[Tellos Athenaios]

I wasn't the one who claimed that colonialism was a charity effort.

No, but the poem kinda gives the lie to your statement about not building any schools, libraries, etc. Strange as it might seem not even the British were purely moustache twirling villains.

[HoreTore]

No, but the poem kinda gives the lie to your statement about not building any schools, libraries, etc. Strange as it might seem not even the British were purely moustache twirling villains.

....And a murderer might be a loving father, but what do I care?

[Kralizec]

....And a murderer might be a loving father, but what do I care?

You should; because the Carribean countries are making the claim that the way they were treated by their respective colonial powers negatively affected their development.

Ergo, to come at any meaningful answer to the question "how much did they harm us?", you have to weigh the positives as well.

Regardless; I'm not principally opposed to helping Suriname develop further. But given the current state of politics in that country I have a buttload of reservations regarding A) their motivation B) the (f)utility of "reparations".

Besides the moral issue, there is also the legal issue. For your particular example, I can say that there is no legal link from Duchy of Normandy to modern France, or from Gaul to modern France or from Roman Empire to modern Italy. Likewise, modern France couldn't demand compensation from modern UK for HYW.That means you can't ask compensation because the entity you want to request it from no longer exists and there is no successor state. Russian Federation is a successor state of SU and by default it is expected to honor any and all international obligations of the SU. SU, on the other hand isn't considered (legally) a successor state to Imperial Russia.

I'd say that countries like Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia have a much more tangible claim against Russia than any of the Carribean countries have in this case.

[HoreTore]

You should; because the Carribean countries are making the claim that the way they were treated by their respective colonial powers negatively affected their development.

Ergo, to come at any meaningful answer to the question "how much did they harm us?", you have to weigh the positives as well.

Ah, so in a case of child abuse, you would have to count the number of times daddy touched their nono's AND the number of stories he told at night...?

[Greyblades]

So is there an actual event or artical we're talking about, or are we just getting nationalistic and worked over nothing?

[Slyspy]

The imperialists brought them the idea that everybody has to look out for himself first, corruption is somehing the colonial empires should pay them for. Their politicians just adopted the stance of the former colonial powers which means the powerful can do with the weak what they want.

And since noone bothered to build schools and libraries for the slaves since schools and libraries do not export colonial goods, they cannot educate themselves or their children on how to improve their countries.

Ah, the assumption that people lived idealistic, ultruistic lives before the evil Europeans intervened. Hilarious.