RE: [OPE] Britain--parasitic and decaying capitalism: A comment

Dogan
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I used the term "empire" very consciously in present tense. The time of empires is gone at least since WWI as non of the imperialist countries can rule over the world for a long period of time without being challenged by other imperialist countries. You know very well whom I am referring to and I know where you have this term from. Is it not Hardt and Negri who serve you?
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Paul
I have never read Hardt or Negri.
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Dogan

USA's domination of the world could not be challenged in the 20th century
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Paul

Surely you do not mean this - Japan and Germany did seriously attempt to challenge it, and from an anti imperialist direction so did China and the USSR from the 1950s to the 1970s through their aid to the Koreans and Vietnamese. That process of challenge was doing pretty well by the end of the 1970s
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Dogan

 as there was the Soviet Union and of course the situation after the WWII: split of Germany as the defeated country, restrictions put on Japan. Immediately after the unification Germany claimed its right to be part of the permanent security council of the UN to indicate that USA's time to rule the world as the single ruling nation is over.
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Paul

I agree that the position of the USA as the only current super power is being undermined economically. I would also say that the invasion of Iraq was an attempt to restart imperialism, which had otherwise been defeated in the 1970s. I contend however, that imperialism is unviable in the 21st century. It is not possible for either the USA or any other industrial power to sustain imperial control over either Iraq or Aghanistan. The cost of the colonial wars necessary to do this are unsustainable as the USA is rediscovering. France was discovering the same thing 50 years ago.

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Dogan
To come back to the concept of 'empire': it non-sense as it concentrates on one country as an imperialist country. Lenin's approach suggests that we look at the picture as a whole and look at the relations rather than isolating one from the rest. In fact if you isolate one from the rest you support challenging imperialist countries' claims to have share in the world domination. This is where the nonsense of ultraimperialism theory leads to: social democtratism and labour-aristocratism.

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Paul

Could you explain in more detail how you think that to be the case?

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Received on Thu Jan 14 06:23:16 2010