[gerdesj]

You are responding to "IllogicalLogic" who whitters on about England, France and the US!

I'd get my fake news elsewhere:

* England is just one part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

* Germany's economy is rather bigger than either the UK or FR - why not mention them?

[IllogicalLogic]

I generally use England interchangeably with Britian for Opium War related statements, because the main actors (and beneficiaries) at the end of the day were English, not Irish, not Australian, etc... down the list.

Germans werent huge Opium pushers at the time (compared to the English, French, and American). So score 1 for Germany, good decision on their part.

I would expect not having major part of your economy propped up by illcit trading has long term positive consequences, Germany is enjoying the fruits of that to some extent.

You can predict what people with ill-gotten gains do with their money (it's a different discussion but consider what corruption costs society/economy when looking at the 2nd and 3rd order effects of corrupt money).