[lbo-talk] New Imperialism?

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Doug:
> Because, to paraphrase Sonic Youth, it's hard to understand the exact
> dimensions of Canadian hell. There seems to be less poverty, less
> insecurity, less inequality, less militarization, less incarceration,
> and more political freedom than down here in the imperial heartland.
> Ditto the rest of the second-tier imperialist countries.

Doug, sometimes you surprise me.  The above seems to imply that any country
that lifts itself above poverty and inequality does so as a part of a larger
imperial project, and by implication, on the backs of "non-imperialist"
countries (whatever they are, I presume these are those countries that have
neither means nor opportunity to pursue any imperial projects worth
attention).  By implication, the only "ethical" (i.e. outside the imperial
project) way is abject poverty cum foreign occupation.  

This smacks of liberal guilt tripping and seems to be in direct
contradiction to everything else you wrote here or in print.

Wojtek