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So you're the ruling elite of a big powerful nation, and you wan't to know how to further your position by being an empire. Empires are afterall built to service ruling elites, so here's how you go about it.
First, call all emperial campaigns of acquisition 'missions of mercy', to 'further the lot of fellow human beings' by bringing them- I dunno, the one true religion or something, or 'freedom and democracy'.
Justify your support of local warlords and militarist collaborators by saying you have to to defend 'freedom' even if it means having to work with less savoury characters (if they're not unsavoury enough when you buy them- train them up in military colleges so they know how to torture, kidnap, blackmail and kill more effectively).
When you send armies out to crush upstart chieftains and renegade monarchs with your own forces, call it a 'police action', make yourself out to be 'reluctantly' defending the rights of ungrateful foreigners, allow people to call you the 'worlds policeman' perhaps. This means your PR is working.
Once you've screwed up enough countries so nobody could possibly rival your way of doing things, you'll find you have a bunch of 'loser countries'... no, let's call them 'Developing World' countries, where you can pay the workforce chump-change to make goods you then sell at home for a significant markup. You and your fellow Elitebridge University buddies can pocket the difference. You can buy as many resources as you need at cut-rate prices. Your corporations and trading-organizations don't have to pay the local taxes, and nobody gives you hastle about health issues or environmental matters because their weak, and need your 'investment'.
The ignorant masses back home will fall for it every time, their knowledge of the rest of the world comes from news organizations that tow the corporate line, and anyway wave a flag at em and display their bloated army so they feel powerful, and that its all being done in their name. Associate your interest with their interest, this can be done with a little thing called 'patriotism', or at least your version of it- sold vigoruously.
The herds of wage-earners will never figure out that your spending their tax-dinars to build an army to look after your corporate interests. They wont put it together that you'll move their jobs overseas to where you have arranged for people to be paid pebble-money. They'll probably agree with you when you tell them welfare for people sucks, but won't know enough to complain of the welfare for corporations you happily dish out by the billions every year, for corpos owned by yourself and your buddies.
This is only a sketch of how it should be done, other details were not included because well, I'm lazy. But this is how Norway does it, and nobody suspects a thing.
First, call all emperial campaigns of acquisition 'missions of mercy', to 'further the lot of fellow human beings' by bringing them- I dunno, the one true religion or something, or 'freedom and democracy'.
Justify your support of local warlords and militarist collaborators by saying you have to to defend 'freedom' even if it means having to work with less savoury characters (if they're not unsavoury enough when you buy them- train them up in military colleges so they know how to torture, kidnap, blackmail and kill more effectively).
When you send armies out to crush upstart chieftains and renegade monarchs with your own forces, call it a 'police action', make yourself out to be 'reluctantly' defending the rights of ungrateful foreigners, allow people to call you the 'worlds policeman' perhaps. This means your PR is working.
Once you've screwed up enough countries so nobody could possibly rival your way of doing things, you'll find you have a bunch of 'loser countries'... no, let's call them 'Developing World' countries, where you can pay the workforce chump-change to make goods you then sell at home for a significant markup. You and your fellow Elitebridge University buddies can pocket the difference. You can buy as many resources as you need at cut-rate prices. Your corporations and trading-organizations don't have to pay the local taxes, and nobody gives you hastle about health issues or environmental matters because their weak, and need your 'investment'.
The ignorant masses back home will fall for it every time, their knowledge of the rest of the world comes from news organizations that tow the corporate line, and anyway wave a flag at em and display their bloated army so they feel powerful, and that its all being done in their name. Associate your interest with their interest, this can be done with a little thing called 'patriotism', or at least your version of it- sold vigoruously.
The herds of wage-earners will never figure out that your spending their tax-dinars to build an army to look after your corporate interests. They wont put it together that you'll move their jobs overseas to where you have arranged for people to be paid pebble-money. They'll probably agree with you when you tell them welfare for people sucks, but won't know enough to complain of the welfare for corporations you happily dish out by the billions every year, for corpos owned by yourself and your buddies.
This is only a sketch of how it should be done, other details were not included because well, I'm lazy. But this is how Norway does it, and nobody suspects a thing.
Nice analysis problem_child. I wonder how long does it take for people to be fed up with Norways arrogant and criminal behaviour.
(dumb suckers 
)
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