I'll take a bite at Paul's question. I'll preface this by saying that I haven't re-read Lenin on imperialism lately, and that I'm not super-clear on what super-imperialism means, but I'm inclined to say, Yes, we live in an era of super-imperialism. At least if that means that the metropolitan capitalist powers have foregone the use of military force in pressing their individual imperial claims, in favour of cooperation vis-a-vis the rest of the world, while restricting their mutual rivalry to diplomatic and commercial channels. When was there last a real fight between metropolitan capitalist powers over access to sources of raw materials or markets? Over the last couple of decades the sites of military conflict have primarily been arenas of historically-rooted ethnic conflict (e.g. Ireland, Palestine, the Balkans), or local power-grabs (Iraq/Kuwait). When the major capitalist powers have intervened, it has been to defend a common interest in property rights, or oil supplies, or the limitation of the contagion of incendiary ethnic feuding. Allin Cottrell.
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