- 21 May 2018 14:20
#14916656
This is factually wrong since when European Integration started in the mid-50s, Europe (the West) was still largely unchallenged. The Steel and Coal Union was to prevent the ruinous competition in heavy industry that had previously led to war. The EU rose like Phoenix from the ashes of the world wars. Even if the British will never admit this because of their imperialist bent, the EU is and always was primarily a peace project. That economic cooperation is essential for peaceful coexistence goes without saying because all wars have an economic cause at their root. That's also the primary motive for Germans wanting close economic relations with Russia. It's not just about gas, it's about mutual economic dependence which prevents war. That's what the imperialists are trying to prevent. They use economic sanctions as a means to prepare for war.
Just like in the nearly 1,000 years of its existence, the HRE never was an empire (as Voltaire correctly observed), the EU cannot become an empire because of its federal structure and the lack of a strong central power that can dispatch the troops at short notice. All actual or wannabe empires either have a presidential system (US, Russia, France, etc.) as a central power or a two-party system assuring mostly a majority government (like the fptp election system in the UK). That is the essential criteria of any empire. This is also clearly demonstrated by Erdogan wanting a constitutional change to introduce a presidential system in order to fulfill his neo-Ottoman imperial ambitions.
Even if some dreamers did foolish things at the beginning, the Communists are inherently imperialists. They have both the motivation for spreading their ideology, like Europe used the Christian mission to expand its colonial empires, and they have the central decision-making organ in the form of the Central Committee and the Communist Party.
That makes the Communist even more imperialist than the so-called capitalists.
Anyways, your mindset is thoroughly imperialist since you can only conceive of this one ideology that must be forced onto all humans, no matter how ill-suited it may prove to be.
Potemkin wrote:The EU exists because the ruling elites of the various nations of Europe have realised that they must put aside their petty differences in order to present a united front if they are to have any hope at all of competing with the world's other hegemonic power blocs.
This is factually wrong since when European Integration started in the mid-50s, Europe (the West) was still largely unchallenged. The Steel and Coal Union was to prevent the ruinous competition in heavy industry that had previously led to war. The EU rose like Phoenix from the ashes of the world wars. Even if the British will never admit this because of their imperialist bent, the EU is and always was primarily a peace project. That economic cooperation is essential for peaceful coexistence goes without saying because all wars have an economic cause at their root. That's also the primary motive for Germans wanting close economic relations with Russia. It's not just about gas, it's about mutual economic dependence which prevents war. That's what the imperialists are trying to prevent. They use economic sanctions as a means to prepare for war.
Just like in the nearly 1,000 years of its existence, the HRE never was an empire (as Voltaire correctly observed), the EU cannot become an empire because of its federal structure and the lack of a strong central power that can dispatch the troops at short notice. All actual or wannabe empires either have a presidential system (US, Russia, France, etc.) as a central power or a two-party system assuring mostly a majority government (like the fptp election system in the UK). That is the essential criteria of any empire. This is also clearly demonstrated by Erdogan wanting a constitutional change to introduce a presidential system in order to fulfill his neo-Ottoman imperial ambitions.
Even if some dreamers did foolish things at the beginning, the Communists are inherently imperialists. They have both the motivation for spreading their ideology, like Europe used the Christian mission to expand its colonial empires, and they have the central decision-making organ in the form of the Central Committee and the Communist Party.
That makes the Communist even more imperialist than the so-called capitalists.
Anyways, your mindset is thoroughly imperialist since you can only conceive of this one ideology that must be forced onto all humans, no matter how ill-suited it may prove to be.