[ittekimasu]

Do you know the story of how the British went from petty traders to "greatness"?

[lostlogin]

And then back again. That's empires for you.

[CPLX]

Of course, one could argue that those of us in the US are in fact the British Empire, the narrative slightly complicated by that civil war period of 1776-1812 of course.

[ittekimasu]

True, this seems to be how Foreign policy people view things. This viewpoint shows up in things like "Five eyes" etc.