Talk:David Sassoon
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The British East India Company had the Opium Monopoly, but at first it was not very profitable. Prior to the Opium War, the Scottish owned business Jardine, Matheson and Co. dominated the Opium trade not Sassoon. In fact, I could not find Sassoon’s name in the index of the 2005 book, ‘The Opium Wars: The Addiction of One Empire and the Corruption of Another’ by W. Travis Hanes and Frank Sanello. Only Neo-Nazi websites claim Sassoon as the mastermind of the Opium War.
--- How about try "Opium: Empire and the Global Political Economy (Asia's Transformations)" by Carl Trocki? Also it is mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia. If simply telling the facts of the despicable deeds of a particular Jewish family is considered "anti-Semitic", then I think there is a bigger issue. 66.171.76.210 04:55, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
My objection is over the chronology and the seemingly exaggerated role of Sassoon in the Opium War. It seems unlikely that a non-European in British India would have the political clout to make the British military his private mercenaries. Sassoon did not speak English and from what I read the British East India Company had an Opium monopoly in the 1700s. The Scottish company Jardine, Matheson and Co had more political clout and initiative than a colonial who did not even speak English. Sassoon's company followed the coattails of British Imperialism after the Opium War was over and he did not create it.
This version of his biography was on the neo-Nazi stormfront website and attempts to support the Protocols of Zion propaganda by merging the exploits of Jardine, Matheson and Co with David Sassoon. The Jewish Encyclopedia uses a similar biography to make Sassoon seem like a cunning visionary who "opened China". Many people glorify gangsters. They say Bugsy Siegel built Las Vegas in 1941. They fail to mention Las Vegas's growth from the construction of Hoover Dam and legalization of gambling in 1931. This article minimizes the British role in the Opium War and makes it seem that David Sassoon conquered China.
People on the Jardine Matheson page are also questioning the whitewasing of their role in the Opium Wars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Jardine_Matheson_Holdings
