@eisai @11112011 @FreedoingVlad @Grandtheftautism @Senator_Armstrong @animeirl @dicey @icedquinn

> Trade is not everything. It’s just one motive.

Sure, but if we're talking about trade, and whether it's plausible that England, a very recently Protestant country and very unpopular with the Pope, could project enough force into Eastern Europe, before they had any empire to speak of and the top two navies were Spain and Portugal, then I think it's unlikely England could have prevented trade by fiat.

> Truth, it’s a different situation and different countries.

Well, you say "This isn't how empires work" and I say "Here are three empires that worked that way". British Empire, any empire. Trade is one of the primary drivers, and even if not directed, an empire forms a hub for trade. If nothing else, you have to pay your soldiers somehow.

> I only remember her thanks to some anon posting Morning Musume.

Well, there's not much worth digging up. Normal Japanese manufactured pop, interesting as a novelty if you haven't heard it, but music distribution kind of flattened out since then so there isn't much novelty.