• encelado748@feddit.org
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        16 hours ago

        Major modern colonizer countries are the United States, China, Russia, and France. Criteria for being considered a colonizer have to be a little bit more strict then “I have wasted toons of money trying to control a country between 1936 and 1941 for prestige”.

        • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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          15 hours ago

          The Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Mozambique, Suriname etc. would probably disagree with you.

          Not to mind the fact that much of the US and France colonialism and neocolonialism is fully backed by allies.

          • encelado748@feddit.org
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            15 hours ago

            I have said “Major” meaning the form of colonialism that have the biggest economic impact. Belgium neocolonialism and Dutch neocolonialism are not nearly on the same scale as the others I have shared.

            France colonialism is not fully backed by allies. Heck, Italy nearly went into a proxy war with France in Libya after they decided that Gaddafi was not good for “humanitarian reasons” and backed LNA against UN-supported GNA. If those are allies supporting each other then I need to rethink the meaning of the world. See Meloni blasting France on national television: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NBf1C4YMNw

            • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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              14 hours ago

              You said

              Criteria for being considered a colonizer have to be a little bit more strict then “I have wasted toons of money trying to control a country between 1936 and 1941 for prestige”.

              Congo, Angola, Mozambique aren’t past tense. Over half the EU built colonial systems and still benefit from their evolved forms.

              Also France backed the LNA in Libya, undermined the UN-recognized GNA, and faced zero material consequences. Not an accident. Their allies sustain and support their colonialism and neocolonialism.

              France remains a core member of NATO, EU, G7, UNSC. Also France maintains the CFA franc. Military bases across West and Central Africa. Corporate access secured through policy shaped in Brussels and Paris. Whether Meloni yells on TV, the structure which is supported through integration into the EU and NATO doesn’t change. No sanctions. No budget cuts. No accountability.

              Words don’t dismantle systems. Material support sustains them. And that support never stops for the major powers. Lives on the periphery absorb the cost.

              • encelado748@feddit.org
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                13 hours ago

                Yes, welcome to realpolitik. You face consequences if someone stronger than you wants you to face consequences.

                Do you think Italy would ever sanction France and leave the EU, destroying their entire economy in the process, on principle?

                Europe kept being dependent on Russia giving them money fueling their war of conquest in Ukraine for years, and they still do that despite the sanctions and billions of euros spent to arm Ukraine. Do you really think they are not willingly letting the shadow fleet exist? Are you really that naive?

                • QinShiHuangsShlong@lemmy.ml
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                  12 hours ago

                  You realize what you’re saying just confirms my point? Supporting colonialism because it serves your national interest is still supporting colonialism. Realpolitik is simply the justification.

                  The EU and NATO are led by imperialist powers and their allies. The social, economic, and military stability of the West is built directly on neocolonial extraction from the periphery. Of course they support it. The system reproduces itself.

                  And lol at “naive.” I don’t expect those who benefit directly from imperialism to take meaningful steps to stop it.

                  My issue is with you pretending colonial powers are something they’re not. I’m just pointing out the reality.

                  Plenty of rapists justify their crimes to themselves. Doesn’t make them not rapists.

                  • encelado748@feddit.org
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                    12 hours ago

                    No I am not confirming your point at all. Not attaching another country that is exploiting neocolonialism is not the same as supporting: it is tolerating an abuse. Thats it.

                    The social, economic and military stability of the West is absolutely not built on neocolonial extraction. That is utterly absurd. You need to frame this statement. If a german company is providing capital, jobs and infrastructure to a developing country via foreign direct investment is it neocolonial extraction for you? What exactly is the neocolonial extraction of Spain for example? Are we talking bought assets of telephone companies and banks in latin America?

                    The West is rich because it developed a highly productive, technology advanced, well-governed domestic economy. Germany was one of the strongest industrial economy by 1880 without a single colony. The same was true for Italy.

                    Nobody deny that some western and non western countries have some strong form of control and direct power projection on developing countries (as I said already, mainly US, Russia, China and France). But that comes with being a powerful country (or powerful company) that has the means to impose themself on other. That has always been the case.