>IMO it's relevant for the same reasons that Ho Chi Minh fought the French,
>Japanese, the French again and then the Vietnamese bourgeoisie and the USA
>(along with the second-tier imperialists Australia, South Korea, Thailand,
>New Zealand and the Philippines); there is nothing to be gained by
>"leftists" (which I presume we all are on this list, a few trolls and
>eavesdroppers notwithstanding) applauding the decline of one capitalist
>power, when its decline is _purely_relative_ to the ascendancy of other
>capitalist powers, religious fanatics and/or reactionary nationalists.
Ah, but for many leftists, the U.S. is the focus of evil in the modern world. (I'd mention Carrol, but I don't want it to seem as if I'm picking on him, since he is a venerable senior citizen, and therefore deserving of respect.) I think one reason many leftists can't stop bashing Hardt & Negri is that they tried to rethink the imperial system as a more collegial, dispersed, decentered structure (though now they're curiously appealing to the non-U.S. elements to demand a Magna Carta). You can't very well say "Empire out of Everywhere!" if Empire is more or less everywhere.
Doug