I don’t see much of him lately, but for a while, it seemed like Niall Ferguson was everywhere.  He seemed to be a Brit version of the US neo-conservatives but a bit more quotable.  He popped up in recently in a mailing from the New York Review of Books.  Oddly, it was an article from 2011, which I didn’t realize until after I had finished reading it.  It contains a letter exchange with the author (with Ferguson repeatedly demanding apoligies) rhat I was unable to finish.

The author sees Ferguson as a neo-colonial which I suppose is the old form of neo-conservatives.  The basic problem with people like Ferguson is that they think you can separate the system from the abuses that support it.  Sure, colonialism would have been great for everyone if it weren’t for the slavery, killings, famines, oppression and outright theft. Unfortunately, take away those things and there isn’t much left.  Ferguson seems to be saying, let’s given this colonial thing another try, but this time let’s do it *right*.  No let’s not.

Watch this man