Capitalism and imperialism
My intention, in this text, is to briefly explore the way in which imperialism has manifested itself in recent history, and to uncover how, through military conquest, through subterfuge, and through economic influence, the bourgeois forces of various great power blocs – Russia, China, and the USA-led west – have used geopolitics to maximize profit, at the expense of the world’s people.
Briefly looking at Ukraine and Russian imperialism
At the time of writing, the war in Ukraine is being much-discussed in the media. The war in Ukraine is the culmination of a war between two spheres of influence. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the 1990s saw the Russian economy, the Balkans, and the countries of the former Warsaw Pact besieged by American finance capital supported by Yeltsin, who allowed the privatization of state enterprises, industry, and infrastructure. The Russian and Balkan bourgeois classes also profited from the aftermath, rising to positions of power and supremacy within their nations by using connections to the government to buy up state enterprises as they privatized. These were the gangsters of the newly capitalist states. As the Russian oligarchy grew bigger, the eastern European oligarchies sought inclusion in NATO and the western sphere to protect their own interests, and the US was glad to exploit Russian vulnerability and spread eastwards, despite Bush Sr.’s promises to the contrary, consolidating and spreading their sphere of influence where Russia had formerly dominated. The last twenty years have seen the US and Russia fighting over eastern Europe, both trying to expand their spheres of influence there and undermine each other. When NATO bombed Yugoslavia, a Russian ally and neighbour, it signified an end to any pretence of cooperation. Then, the Russians were against NATO in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya. Georgia and Ukraine aspired to join NATO, encircling Russia. The idea of a USA missile defence system in Poland was floated. Remember how the USA reacted when missiles were put in Cuba? What if a Chinese or Russian alliance spread to Mexico, Canada, or Panama today? Russia drew a line in the sand when they invaded Georgia, taking advantage of the conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia to frustrate American efforts and keep them away. When the Maidan movement occurred in Ukraine in 2014, the USA began planning the replacement of President Yanukovych with a pro-American government. Using the hope of joining the EU and NATO, they pushed and funded certain Ukrainian groups, particularly the pro-fascist groups of the Second World War under the chant of ‘Slava Ukraini’, to form an anti -Russian government, discriminating against a significant Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine. Within a month, Putin annexed Crimea to protect his access to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, now that Ukraine was posing a threat to Russia’s naval base in Sevastopol. NATO carried out military exercises in eastern Europe, including in Ukraine, in 2021, and the HMS Defender was sent to the waters south of Crimea. The US flew bombers in the Black Sea, and military preparations, on both sides, took place right until the start of the war.
The current situation
This latest crisis represents Putin taking a drastic measure to stop US expansion eastwards and protect his sphere of influence in eastern Europe. Because the Americans pushed Putin further than was willing to accept, the Ukrainians are paying the price in blood, and now the USA has been bankrolling a doomed military, prolonging the death of Ukrainian and Russian fighters and Ukrainian civilians to run down Russian time, supplies, and standing on the world stage – though they never cared about supporting
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