"It would appear Jom that minutes later you have answered your own question"
Don't see that - Rhodes is a historical figure in need of re-assesing, Assad comes with his credentials on display and the only way he or his wife would offer a scholarship wuld be ro respectabilise what he is doing now.
"I should have thought my views had been made clear. It is clearly desirable in theory; but pragmatically does not seem to have been a resounding success when practised in sub-Saharan Africa"
White man's burden eh?
We destroyed the cultures of these countries and replaced them with Western religions, cultures and values, rather than attempting to persuade them to stand on their own feet and develop according to their own needs rather than those of the Empire.
Despite your (was it you?) description of my roseate picture of pre-colonial days, I am well aware of the problems of'the olf ways' but replacing it with a dependency on Mother England, enslaving its people and milking it dry of its resources doesn't seem an alternative to me.
You mention Apartheid - interesting to see the Janus stance that Britain took on that particular regime.
You don't have to travel as far as "sub-Saharan Africa," - the same arguments were being used in relation to Ireland up to and after partial independence, and look at thee bloody shambles we left there - we're still suffering from the effects of it.
The Empire was always predatory and seldom if ever altruistic in nature.
Jim Carroll