That’s exactly what Americans say when someone calls the US an empire. It’s a pretty lame deflection considering it ignores the application of economic dominance they use to get what they want from other countries.
I quite literally explained how the export of capital as opposed to commodities as a means to enrich the imperialist countries at the expense of others
You seem to think that imperialism is somehow limited to just Capitalist countries. Your definition also conveniently ignores the fact that you can obviously export both capital and commodities. What makes it “imperialism” isn’t “what” is being exported…it’s simply the fact that the smaller country’s resources are being consumed by the larger, in order to sustain its own existence and expand its sphere of influence.
Imperialism is all about dominance. Economic dominance. Political dominance. Military dominance.
Economic dominance is the most subtle and least invasive form of control. This is where the imperialist nation simply purchases influence in the smaller country by buying up companies, land and resources. The end result being, all the wealth generated by the smaller economy is being syphoned off and absorbed by the larger economy. This is the typical method used by Capitalist countries, and the only definition you seem to think applies to Imperialism. It isn’t. As I said, this is just the least invasive form of dominance.
The 2nd form of dominance is political. If the smaller nation resists the larger nation’s efforts to take over their economy peacefully, they will take steps to replace that nation’s leadership with loyalists who won’t resist…ie regime change. This doesn’t even necessarily have to be violent. The imperialist nation simply needs to pour resources into getting the right people places in key positions, and slowly take over the smaller nation’s government one office at a time, until there is no one left to resist their efforts to take control of their resources.
The 3rd and final form of dominance is violence. If the efforts to take control of the smaller nation’s government are somehow resisted, the final and most invasive actions will be employed. They will take control of those resources by force. Invasion. Annexation. Subjugation.
Russia employs all three of these forms of dominance, just like the US does. There is no difference in their tactics…only in their rhetoric when they try to justify their actions. They accuse each other of all the same crimes, that they themselves are guilty of committing. Anyone trying to defend this, by claiming that only “the other side” is doing it, is being intentionally disingenuous.
Russia is not economically dominating other countries, though, and neither is BRICS. Secondly, focusing on export of capital as the dominant measure of an imperialist economy does not mean a country can only export either capital or commodities. Further, earlier forms of imperialism existed, such as the Roman Empire, what I described is merely imperialism as it exists today.
When you are talking about “forms of control,” what you’re really describing is imperialism proper, the economic extraction, and then ways imperialism is maintained through soft and hard power. Russia is not economically plundering other countries. It is at war, but it is not an imperialist country.
This isn’t me being disingenuous, it’s me being principled in how I analyze the world.
Ok. Then explain how the Roman Empire was an empire, before Capitalism even existed. Capitalism is a relatively recent addition to human history. Whereas imperialism is by far one of the oldest.
Limiting your definition of what it is, exclusively to Capitalism, ignores 99% of our collective existence. It’s not like all the other forms of imperialism ceased to exist once Capitalism came along…it just came up with a new form of dominance to use.
And for the record, Russia maintains economic dominance over plenty of countries in its sphere of influence. Belarus. Georgia. Moldova. Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan. Armenia. Etc. All are heavily influenced by Russian economic policies.
But, as I said… that’s just one form of dominance that imperialist nations use to expand and maintain their control over other countries. Russia just uses the other two I mentioned, far more often. Putin obviously prefers the more old-school imperialism to the new-school variety employed by the US.
That’s exactly what Americans say when someone calls the US an empire. It’s a pretty lame deflection considering it ignores the application of economic dominance they use to get what they want from other countries.
You seem to think that imperialism is somehow limited to just Capitalist countries. Your definition also conveniently ignores the fact that you can obviously export both capital and commodities. What makes it “imperialism” isn’t “what” is being exported…it’s simply the fact that the smaller country’s resources are being consumed by the larger, in order to sustain its own existence and expand its sphere of influence.
Imperialism is all about dominance. Economic dominance. Political dominance. Military dominance.
Economic dominance is the most subtle and least invasive form of control. This is where the imperialist nation simply purchases influence in the smaller country by buying up companies, land and resources. The end result being, all the wealth generated by the smaller economy is being syphoned off and absorbed by the larger economy. This is the typical method used by Capitalist countries, and the only definition you seem to think applies to Imperialism. It isn’t. As I said, this is just the least invasive form of dominance.
The 2nd form of dominance is political. If the smaller nation resists the larger nation’s efforts to take over their economy peacefully, they will take steps to replace that nation’s leadership with loyalists who won’t resist…ie regime change. This doesn’t even necessarily have to be violent. The imperialist nation simply needs to pour resources into getting the right people places in key positions, and slowly take over the smaller nation’s government one office at a time, until there is no one left to resist their efforts to take control of their resources.
The 3rd and final form of dominance is violence. If the efforts to take control of the smaller nation’s government are somehow resisted, the final and most invasive actions will be employed. They will take control of those resources by force. Invasion. Annexation. Subjugation.
Russia employs all three of these forms of dominance, just like the US does. There is no difference in their tactics…only in their rhetoric when they try to justify their actions. They accuse each other of all the same crimes, that they themselves are guilty of committing. Anyone trying to defend this, by claiming that only “the other side” is doing it, is being intentionally disingenuous.
Russia is not economically dominating other countries, though, and neither is BRICS. Secondly, focusing on export of capital as the dominant measure of an imperialist economy does not mean a country can only export either capital or commodities. Further, earlier forms of imperialism existed, such as the Roman Empire, what I described is merely imperialism as it exists today.
When you are talking about “forms of control,” what you’re really describing is imperialism proper, the economic extraction, and then ways imperialism is maintained through soft and hard power. Russia is not economically plundering other countries. It is at war, but it is not an imperialist country.
This isn’t me being disingenuous, it’s me being principled in how I analyze the world.
Ok. Then explain how the Roman Empire was an empire, before Capitalism even existed. Capitalism is a relatively recent addition to human history. Whereas imperialism is by far one of the oldest.
Limiting your definition of what it is, exclusively to Capitalism, ignores 99% of our collective existence. It’s not like all the other forms of imperialism ceased to exist once Capitalism came along…it just came up with a new form of dominance to use.
And for the record, Russia maintains economic dominance over plenty of countries in its sphere of influence. Belarus. Georgia. Moldova. Kazakhstan. Kyrgyzstan. Armenia. Etc. All are heavily influenced by Russian economic policies.
But, as I said… that’s just one form of dominance that imperialist nations use to expand and maintain their control over other countries. Russia just uses the other two I mentioned, far more often. Putin obviously prefers the more old-school imperialism to the new-school variety employed by the US.
But, it’s still imperialism all the same.