imperialism 
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5/8/2022
The Dangerous Trend of Imperial Nostalgia – It's not Just Russia
by Lawrence Wittner
The embrace of the belief that nations are entitled to reclaim their past dominance underlies Russia's invasion of Ukraine but also is influencing the politics of Britain, France, China, and the United States. A renewed commitment to international cooperation is needed to thwart this dangerous turn.
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SOURCE: Wall Street Journal
4/18/2022
Is this the End of the Russian Empire?
by Walter Russell Mead
Historic empires have all ultimately faced a moment of reckoning when the reality of their fading power overcomes triumphal myths. The next phase of fighting in Ukraine will determine if that moment has come for Putin's Russia.
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SOURCE: The Nation
4/18/2022
American Militarism is the Key to Understanding Today's Violence Against Asian Women
Since the Philippine-American war in the 1890s, the sexual exploitation of Asian women has gone hand in hand with American militarism in the Pacific. It's foolish to pretend that this history has nothing to do with attacks on Asian American women today.
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SOURCE: The Atlantic
4/4/2022
Richard Overy's New Book Tells WWII as Global History of Imperial Conflict
by Daniel Immerwahr
"Whatever else the Second World War was about, it was, on both sides, a war for empire."
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SOURCE: Slate
3/30/2022
You Can't Teach "Pros and Cons" When it Comes to Empire
by Priya Satia
Far from encouraging critical thinking, the "balance sheet" approach to teaching historical atrocities like slavery or imperialism flatters the mythologies created by the powerful to excuse violence against others, says a historian of empire and parent of a high school student.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
3/4/2022
Putin is Following the 19th Century US in Using Separatist Movements to Justify Empire
by Elliott Young
No American observers should use the term "unprecedented" to describe Putin's claim to support self-determination as a justification for invading another country. It's part of the toolkit of empire.
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SOURCE: New Statesman
3/9/2022
A Tale of Two Dictators: Putin's Relationship to Stalin's Legacy
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Despite their ideological incompatibility, Putin's nationalism depends on the cult of fear and repressive apparatus of the Stalinist era, which was never comprehensively demolished after the fall of Communism.
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SOURCE: Dissent
3/2/2022
The Seeds of War
by Gregory Afinogenov
Putin's actions belie the argument that Russia was provoked by NATO expansion; Russian imperialism is driving neighbors toward the western alliance, not the other way around.
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SOURCE: Jerusalem Post
8/10/2008
Read Historical Discussion of Putin's Imperial Ambitions from 2008
by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez
Russian incursions into Georgia in 2008 gave strong clues to the playbook for the invasion of Ukraine and efforts to justify it.
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SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
3/2/2022
The Long History of Russian Empire Behind Putin's Territorial Goals
by Lynne Hartnett
"Putin understands the post-Soviet global order through the prism of Russia’s long history. And that history is inextricably tied to Russia’s dynamic imperial mission both in the past and today."
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SOURCE: Substack
2/3/2022
The Lazy Bear's Guide to Anti-Imperialism
by Gabriel Rosenberg
Too much of the chatter about American military intervention skips over the core problem: the massive flow of resources into the military and weapons programs creates a preference for war.
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SOURCE: MSNBC
2/2/2022
Jonathan Katz Talks "Gangsters of Capitalism" with Chris Hayes
Jonathan Katz discusses his new biography of Smedley Butler, the Marine officer who pivoted from leading the fight for American empire to blowing the whistle on an alleged coup against FDR in 1934.
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SOURCE: TomDispatch
12/9/2021
Are We Forever Captives of the Forever Wars?
by Karen J. Greenberg
The Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed by Congress after 9/11 has been expanded from fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan to justify action in at least 19 countries. Repealing it is the first step to freeing Americans from the Pentagon's Forever Wars.
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SOURCE: The New Republic
8/23/2021
The Phony Feminism of War Cheerleaders
by Natalie Shure
"The fact that Afghan women really do face immense oppression makes their cynical use for war-stoking purposes almost unfathomably galling," argues Natalie Shure.
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SOURCE: The New Republic
8/20/2021
The Disasters in Afghanistan and Haiti Share the Same Twisted Root
by Jonathan M. Katz
"Both Haiti and Afghanistan owe their sorry conditions to decades of direct U.S. control. Looking closely at the links between the two is essential for understanding how to respond to each in ways that help, rather than do more harm."
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SOURCE: Public Books
5/14/2021
Imperialism: A Syllabus
by Radhika Natarajan and John Munro
Two historians present a public syllabus on imperialism that emphasizes the historical origins of contemporary struggles and the ways that ideas of difference are essential to the imperial work of control and exploitation.
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SOURCE: TomDispatch
3/21/2021
Washington’s Delusion of Endless World Dominion
by Alfred McCoy
"While Washington had been pouring blood and treasure into desert sands, Beijing was making itself into the world’s workshop."
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SOURCE: The Guardian
Irish President Attacks 'Feigned Amnesia' over British Imperialism
“I am struck by a disinclination,” he says, “in both academic and journalistic accounts to critique empire and imperialism. Openness to, and engagement in, a critique of nationalism has seemed greater.
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SOURCE: The Drift
2/2/2021
First-Person Shooter Ideology: The Cultural Contradictions of Call of Duty
by Daniel Bessner
"Right now, this one game is teaching millions of young Americans about the epic struggle between their government and the Soviet Union, a century-defining cataclysm that resulted in tens of millions of deaths, reshaped world history, and engendered the ideological struggles that presently bedevil the public sphere." But the lesson is one of cynical resignation to today's state of endless war.
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SOURCE: The Baffler
7/31/2020
Unnatural Disasters: On the Pandemics We Make For Ourselves
by Ann Neumann
Like cholera and poverty, Covid-19 is not the crisis; it’s a disease that feeds on our racialized inequalities.
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