It already is a capitalist neo-empire. But its social organization and accumulation structure is very different from the US, and that matters a great deal, both within East Asia itself, as well as places like India, which may well become East Asia's newest industrial periphery.
> These will be
> real obstacles to enhanced accumulation in the near future, and will only
> be resolved by further expansion of the EU (something which appears to
> have finite cultural barriers) and/or war (whether between classes or
> empires).
So far, expansion seems to be the order of the day. The EU is not only expanding by leaps and bounds, it's also setting up vast trade, economic and cultural networks, e.g. the Euro-Med program, association agreements with the Ukraine and Russia, etc. If this trend continues, it's not impossible to imagine Tunisia, Turkey and Russia joining the EU in fifteen years.
-- DRR