Re: Estonia maintains compulsory military service

On Mar 7, 4:04 pm, hol...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Eugene Holman) wrote:
In article
<cc7c5d3e-1560-457c-957e-781e8f3e1...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, vello

<vellok...@xxxxxx> wrote:

<deletions>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DGeMhxvYq1Ww
There are different kinds of imperialism. US one is relatively
harmless in bigger timeframe - they don't dream about making US
bigger, so their actions don't put in danger of very existence of some
nation or their territory.

That's because they did all of that during the 19th century. In addition
to the American Indians, who lost almost everything, the Mexicans lost
roughly half their territory to American expansion. The former Kingdom of
Hawaii was subverted and annexed by the US government in a scenario that
has some  similarities to what happened in 1940 to the Baltic countries..
Their culture and language were repressed to such an extent that, unlike
in the Baltics, there is no chance of a Hawaiian renaissance.

These developments were supplemented by cynical deals that resulted in
France (Mississippi Valley), Spain (Florida), and Russia (Alaska) selling
their imperial holdings, that is to say, the homelands of third parties,
to the Americans for cash.

Additionally, we should not forget that the American Civil War (1861-1865)
had a strong imperialist dimension: should the South be permitted to
maintain an economy based on the availaility of inexpensive slave labor,
exchangeing the raw material, primarily cotton, that it produced for high
quality foreign, mostly British, industrial goods; or should it be forced
to become an economic colony of the North and a captive market for its
less than state-of-the-art industrial output? It took more than 700,000
Americans killed by other Americans to sort that one out, with some of the
bitterness and problems this caused still visible in American society
today.

russian imperialism have been very
different - they act step-by-step but the goal is to turn what they
get into Russia.

Afganistan and Iraq will be happily on map of year
2100, but Karelia and Ostpreussen (and other such cases) are done to
last forever.

So was the "soyuz nerushim y respublikh svobodnykh". History cannot be
predicted. Ostpreussen - Kaliningrad - is an anomaly that, in the longer
term, just might, despite its present status as an "unsinkable aircraft
carrier", eventually turn out to be more trouble for Russia than it is
worth.

Same is true for Tibet for sure.

Would that things were so simple. The Anglo-Amerian type of imperialism
was deeply committed to enslaving or killing off outright, dispossessing,
economically exploiting, and reservationizing indigenous peoples and
plowing under their cultures. The Russian type of imperialism, although
not entirely innocent of these practices, has been more interested in
following a policy of benign neglect towards indigenous cultures, hoping
that bearers of less dynamic or virulent cultures will eventually "see the
light" and self-Russify. The fate of American Indian tribes with high
cultures, such as the Oneidas and Navahos, cannot be compared to the fate
of the Estonians and Latvians under Soviet rule. Ditto ten time over for
the indigenous tribes of Australia, and a hundred times over for the
peoples of South Africa who were forced to live under apartheid,
admittedly not a wholely Anglo-Saxon construct, but certainly with
antecedents in the American south.

American imperialism has shown a strong tendency to concentrate on
disproportionately weak, technologically underdeveloped targets. This was
the case during the period of transcontinental expansion, aka the westward
movement of the frontier during the 19th century, as well as during the
post-WW II period: its unquestioning support of Israel, and its
mechanations in Iran, Cuba, Guatamala, Dominican Republic, Vietnam,
Cambodia, Grenada, Iraq, Afghanistan, and, as recent events have revealed,
Egypt. It is amazing that people don't make more of a stink about the
totally illegal American-engineered invasion and "regime change" in Iraq.
If any other country would have had done such a thing, its leaders would
be sharing the fate of the late Slobodan Milosovic and his cronies.

American imperialism in its present-day form probably has you and yours
MacDonaldizing your diet, drinking Coca-Cola , using Microsoft software,
consuming American-produced entertainment, and otherwise spending a larger
portion of your paycheck than you probably realize for American products
and services, quality equivalents of which could probably be produced in
your own country by local entrepreneurs.

Regards,
Eugene Holman

That's all true, Eugene (exept comparing some small european nations
with aborigen tribes :-)). But if to go back in history, it turns more
violent everywhere. Exept Adolf Hitler, no Western country has made
attempts to grow bigger in expence of neighbours in 20-21 century
(minor border arguing excluded). After Havaii, not a single country is
disappeared from World map due US activities. Hitler and Stalin were
running "classic imperialism" in the middle of 20th century.
Difference?
.

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