Eternal Growth, Infinite Empire

In my posts I've often made the case that capitalism, especially late stage capitalism, is inseparable from imperialism. While the precise definition of "imperialism" is still under debate, I believe that in Lenin's theory it becomes most apparent how the two are intimately related, and how the current neoliberal world empire is nothing more than a continuation of the colonialism from the previous world empire.

I've used the word "imperialism" a lot in posts criticizing the current world order under capitalism, so I'll briefly address why it's almost inevitable to compare the two. Also, a video just came out with exactly that topic, so there's another reason ;-) When we look up "imperialism" we find in Wikipedia that:

Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending a country's rule over foreign nations, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control of other areas. Imperialism was both normal and common throughout recorded history, the earliest examples dating from the mid-third millennium BC. In recent times, it has been considered morally reprehensible and prohibited by international law. Therefore, the term is used in international propaganda to denounce an opponent's foreign policy.
_{source: Wikipedia}

I think there's no arguing against the observation that American foreign policy, as well as the policies enacted by undemocratic institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and NATO, amount to exactly that: extending the rule over foreign nations by military force and economic warfare. Let's not beat around the bush here and point straight to the heart of the matter: colonialism, both the old and the new, is the only way for an economy, for any economy to grow beyond its borders. The capacity for your own population to produce and consume more reaches a limit sooner or later, and an economic model that's founded on infinite and eternal growth can only survive by expanding into territories beyond its borders. Vladimir Lenin describes it well in his 1917 book "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism." Here's the summary from Wikipedia:

In order for capitalism to generate greater profits than the home market can yield, the merging of banks and industrial cartels produces finance capitalism—the exportation and investment of capital to countries with underdeveloped economies. In turn, such financial behavior leads to the division of the world among monopolist business companies and the great powers. Moreover, in the course of colonizing undeveloped countries, business and government eventually will engage in geopolitical conflict over the economic exploitation of large portions of the geographic world and its populaces. Therefore, imperialism is the highest (advanced) stage of capitalism, requiring monopolies (of labour and natural-resource exploitation) and the exportation of finance capital (rather than goods) to sustain colonialism, which is an integral function of said economic model. Furthermore, in the capitalist homeland, the super-profits yielded by the colonial exploitation of a people and their economy permit businessmen to bribe native politicians, labour leaders and the labour aristocracy (upper stratum of the working class) to politically thwart worker revolt (labour strike).
_{source: Wikipedia}

This is why I often propose that economical warfare in the from of tariffs and sanctions, are in many cases a precursor to real war; we need look no further than to what happened, and is still happening with Iran under the Trump administration. In most cases the real war isn't even necessary, as we gain control over undeveloped and underdeveloped countries by means of loans by the IMF; unwitting and corrupt regimes receive huge loans, creating a debilitating national debt that can never be repaid, under strict neoliberal conditions that amount to the privatization of all their national government controlled industries, and giving unlimited access to their internal markets to giant western corporations, thereby eliminating any chance of developing a thriving local or national economy. These are the strategies of neo-imperialism and neo-colonialism, and capitalism with its demand for eternal growth is the perfect ideology to excuse and normalize the further expansion of our current world empire. This is why the assassination of Iranian general Soleimani is disturbing and frightening, yet not surprising at all for anyone who's willing to look at the big picture through a lens cleared of any ideological coloring; regime change in that country has been sought after since the previous puppet regime was dethroned in the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

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