I do not know how popular is this allegedly popular idea -- was Warren's Imperialism such an unpopular book, or Geoff Kay's, and have Marx's original insights been so thoroughly rejected by marxists?
In my admittedly small circle, that is a non-issue. In any case, at least in the piece that sparked off this whole thread, I didn't get the sense that this was Cockburn's point; maybe I don't know how to read. Rather, wasn't his point the breathlessness with which the signs of growth and dynamism are being touted, while the underside, if you will, of capitalist development is being placed under a jilbab/hijab?
A more popular idea, I thought, is whether there will be convergence between what used to be the "Third World" and the "First". That, and the stubbornness of internal inequalities.
kj