“Well, Russia is the last extant colonial power, deep into the anti-colonial age. Whether they are “decolonized” by some external force or not, they should not reasonably expect to be able to hold on to that position forever.”
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The US too has its colonies, all those countries we force to submit to our financialization of world trade which includes keeping the dollar as the primary currency of the global financial system. So if Russia is to be expected to give up their colonies, doesn’t it follow that we should give up ours and allow competing currencies (which would make us unable to finance our debt and probably cut in half our standard of living)? There are no good guys here, just countries struggling for power.
I suppose once upon a time it was easier to pretend we had an obvious moral superiority in this struggle and thus deserved to win, but those days are long gone. These days many countries in the global South just see us as financial bullies, using our military to enforce rules that benefit us while disadvantaging others.
“The US too has its colonies, all those countries we force to submit to our financialization of world trade which includes keeping the dollar as the primary currency of the global financial system.”
Ah yes, the leftist point of view weighs in. We all remember the many colonial wars that the USA fought to force countries to build McDonalds and adopt the dollar as a reserve currency. Bloody, shameful business.