Oil is American president’s motivation but his concept of economic success feels as outdated as his music tastes The word “loot” entered the English language from Hindi in the late eighteenth century, as the rapacious East India Company plundered its way across the subcontinent. It was a trading company, not a state – but it had the imprimatur of the English crown and its own large private army, mingling commerce and military force and opening the way for British imperial dominance of India. Continue reading...