The Anglosphere is an informal interest group that goes way
back, back as far as WWI, perhaps further.
Originally the Anglosphere was Great
Britain, the United
States, Canada,
Australia, New
Zealand, and South
Africa.
All English speaking British colonies or former colonies. There is no treaty creating the
Anglosphere. As one might imagine, Great
Britain and the United
States are the biggest and strongest
members, but the Anglosphere takes care not to trample on the smaller
members. Much of this is arranged in
informal settings. Since all the members
share culture and history, they all tend to think alike and that makes for
smooth and easy negotiations.
The Anglosphere fought WWII; they crushed the Nazis (with a lot
of help from the Soviets) and set up the post war world. The Anglosphere leaned pretty hard on the
Soviets to keep them in line and contain communism. They fought several small wars, Korea,
Viet Nam, and Singapore.
Tonight I am
watching the Indians putting on a show for President Trump’s visit. They are doing it right. The red carpet leading out of Air Force One
has a band and dancers, all wearing colorful native garb, and belting out the
tunes. A fleet of shiny black SUVs and limousines. I wonder if they are manufactured in India. India
has a decent sized auto industry. I could see the maker’s badge on the grilles
but I didn’t recognize it. It wasn’t a
Caddy badge. Indian Prime Minister Modi
was on hand. They did a motorcade,
heading for either the Taj Mahal or Gandhi’s place, both were mentioned. The streets were lined with cheering
Indians. Clearly a warm and enthusiastic
for President Trump.
Can we admit India
to the Anglosphere? The British ran the
place for a couple of hundred years and did a lot of Anglicization during that time. We certainly have more in common with, and
good feelings about, India
than we do toward China
or Russia. Since the Anglosphere is informal, we would
have to watch and see what happens. If India
supports the Anglosphere, and the other members talk with the Indians and gain
their support before doing things then India
is a working member. Which would be
good, India is
an important country. Indian science and
industry are strong enough to launch a Mars orbiter. India
is a big place both in land area and population. Many Indians speak English. They have a lot of good engineers, many of
whom work in US firms. They have a fine
national cuisine.
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