Thatcher buttressed ugly criminal legacy of imperialism: Analyst

Margaret Thatcher buttressed an ugly policy of imperialism in the world arena and unleashed an egregious class war in Britain which is still raging, a prominent analyst says.

“The rightwing nihilistic capitalism that Thatcher gave vent to was and became a zeitgeist for North America, Europe and globally,” international affairs expert Finian Cunningham wrote in an article on Press TV website on Tuesday.

The former British Prime Minister died on Monday at the age of 87 after suffering from a series of strokes.

Cunningham added, “Thatcher declared war on the British people themselves,” with her reign consisting of “snake-oil economic policies.”

“She famously proclaimed that ‘there was no such thing as society’ and went on to oversee an explosion in the gap between rich and poor and the demolition of social conditions in Britain. That legacy has been amplified by both successive Conservative and Labour governments and is central to today’s social meltdown in Britain, more than two decades after Thatcher resigned,” he noted.

Cunningham added that as a result of Thatcher’s policies, the rich became richer and the poor became more numerous and poorer.

“The decimation of workers’ rights and the unfettered power given to finance capital were hallmarks of Thatcher’s legacy and are to this day hallmarks of Britain’s current social decay.”

Cunningham also cited Thatcher’s failure in maintaining dialogue over domestic and foreign political and economic issues including those with the British working class, the Irish republicans, as well as with Argentina over the Malvinas Islands, describing her as “an intolerant militarist who always resorted to demagoguery, violence and starvation to get her political way.”

“Thatcher deliberately took the military option and, with that, countless lives,” the Irish analyst said, “rather than engage in reasoned, mutual dialogue.”

“The economic malaise that is currently plaguing the world can be traced directly to such ideologues as Margaret Thatcher and former US President Ronald Reagan,” Cunningham concluded.