I jist finished watching Ukraine on Fire.
If the USA would do that… Then I cant even say in good confidence that the USA is even a republic.
If the USA would do that shit anywhere; then how can any of us trust the results of any American election?
I jist finished watching Ukraine on Fire.
If the USA would do that… Then I cant even say in good confidence that the USA is even a republic.
If the USA would do that shit anywhere; then how can any of us trust the results of any American election?
Within the imperial core, it’s not just the US, either. What happened to Corbyn in the UK and Syriza in Greece§ gives a glimpse into how all the state apparatuses will come together to neutralise change.
It’s quite scary, but I still tend to see these actors as paper tigers. They only succeed because there’s very little organised resistance (Corbyn, it seems, assumed he could just walk in with enough votes, for example). It’s like you point out, with the removed US presidents – they tend to be lone voices doing one or two good things, but without organised mass support (except FDR, maybe, who had the unions, socialists, and communists on board, and it took three terms and saw a whole lot of reform before be could be dealt with).
I’ve not read many biographies because I was unsure if I could stomach them, but you’ve persuaded me… maybe it’s time to start.
§ hmm… Can Greece be said to be in the imperial core, considering how badly it has been treated in/by the EU?
I would actually not recommend reading presidential biographies if you have better things to read. It was just something that I did while I was trying to understand the last century better. There’s a lot of fluff and caricature.
If you want to read an interesting book that not enough people have heard of I’d read “Inside Hitler’s Greece” https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Hitlers-Greece-Experience-Occupation/dp/0300089236
Considering your question I’d turn toward Yanis Varafankus “Adults in the Room”
I’m tempting to think Greece is a thoroughly colonized nation. During the 2010 crisis they attempted to redress their debts in an amiable way but were hostilely prevented by the IMF and EU.
I don’t know how we should view the imperial core though. Should we view it as entire groups of people or should we view it as similar to the American Empire, as a serious of bases spread out but capable of exerting it’s will. Certainly there are Greek collaborators who facilitate the colonization of Greece and they should be considered as members of the imperial administration. Then segments of Greece would and segments of Greece wouldn’t.
You could view the “Imperial Core” as a more super-structuralist aspect. Even this breaks down slightly. Certain classes among Greek Society would feel tightly aligned with the “imperial Core” while others would feel alienated by it.
I think the most useful way of understand the Imperial Core is in opposition to the Periphery of Empire. Some regions the Capitalist empire has a very strong hold while others the empire has a very tentative hold. Even in the US, at the very heart of the empire we are a colonized people. Materially, only a small segment of the population plays a role in managing the occupation of the US territory for the administration of the empire. Super-Structurally, many of us are completely brainwashed by the empire’s culture, media, and identities, but what really makes us the Heart of the Empire is the firmness by which the Empire holds us and their use of our political structures in their operations.
This is true for all European countries within the EU and all NATO Members. It’s also true for nations like South Korea, Japan, and Australia. These nations are under the firm grasp of the empire and their political structures are used in the operation, administration, and coordination of the empire.