Colonial Hangover: Al Jazeera Maps Empires, Misses the Military-Industrial Complex Blueprint
📰 THE STORY: Al Jazeera provides an interactive map highlighting the ten countries with the most overseas territories, framing them as 'remnants of colonial empires' used for 'strategic and military purposes.' 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The analysis stops at 'remnants' without detailing the active dispossession, resource theft, and indigenous resistance these territories
represent. Consider the Chagos Islanders, forcibly evicted by the UK between 1968 and 1973 to create the Diego Garcia military base for the US, a base critical for projecting US military power across West Asia and Africa. The islands were designated a 'nature reserve' only after the native population was removed, a classic colonial land grab masquerading as conservation. These aren't just
'remnants'; they are active pieces of imperial infrastructure. Double Standard: While the piece implicitly critiques historical colonialism, it sanitizes the present-day reality. Where is the outrage over ongoing colonial abuses, such as France's economic stranglehold over former colonies in Africa through the CFA franc, or the US's continued military presence in Guam, Puerto Rico, or countless
other 'territories'? The focus remains on a static count, not the dynamic, violent maintenance of these outposts. Al Jazeera, often a sharp critic of Western power, fails to explicitly connect these territories to the current geopolitical landscape of resource control and military dominance, particularly in contrast to its often robust coverage of Palestinian struggles against occupation. Follow