Your definition of “imperialism” as it relates to Russia is so vague it would also apply to the Statesian north annexing the confederacy, or Burkina Faso kicking France out. All you really mean is that Russia is an active player on the global stage, but that isn’t inherently a bad thing. Imperialism as a system is a well-understood stage in capitalist development, that itself is bad, and is the biggest obstacle to socialism and human progression. Not Russia, which is actively working against said imperialist system.

Again, Russia is not exploiting the global south, and is actively working in the interests of the global south in contesting imperialism as a global system.

Doesn’t discredit anything I’ve said, no matter how many times you post it. All you’re doing is discrediting yourself by dodging everything I said.

No, I’m a human being, and I have no reason to block you. You keep stating that I’ve lied, yet you haven’t explained how.

The Democrats taking the seat is not “us” taking the seat, but a different faction of capitalists. I’m letting good be the enemy of horrible.

What “disproven, false stories” have I spewed? Are you denying Platner serving in the US military, and having Nazi tattoos?

Considering you are actively advocating for an imperialist boot with Nazi tattoos, and literally said “vote blue no matter who folks, Platner kicks ass,” it makes sense that you believe what you say.

Better to organize in working class parties than continue to prop up bourgeois parties.

I’m a Marxist-Leninist, I’m absolutely on the left. You quite literally stated “vote blue no matter who” in the very beginning, then proceeded to keep mentioning the article despite me never bringing it up. This is a literal line from you:

Vote blue no matter who folks, Platner kicks ass.

I was not using it, I was responding to your point.

I’m well aware that the military preys on the vulnerable. I’m also well aware that Planter openly admitted to volunteering not out of desparation, but pleasure. I will not back off when it comes to anti-imperialism, you’re throwing the question of US imperialism and settler-colonialism under the rug because the conclusions are damning for your argument. The US Empire must be dismantled.

Further, I am not OP. You are not talking to OP. I raised the points of Platner’s participation in US imperialism and war crimes, his Nazi tattoos, and the fact that supporting bourgeois parties will never bring about worker emancipation. Stop bringing up the article like it has anything to do with what I am saying, I was responding to your “vote blue no matter who” claim.

I do not support the US imperial military, as it’s an extremely brutal means by which the US Empire cements its neocolonial and imperialist extraction around the world. No good has come from the US military outside of its participation in World War II in the last century. Outside of that conflict, it has exported genocide and mass slaughter of innocents on a regular basis. The problem isn’t simply the leaders, it’s the entire imperialist system the US Empire rests on, along with its ongoing settler-colonial project. Platner’s participation in that system is well-documented.

What lies? Are you confusing me with OP? I gave you my 3 claims. Are you denying that Platner is a former imperialist boot? Are you denying his Nazi tattoos? Or are you of the belief that supporting bourgeois parties is a viable path to worker emancipation? Your article is addressing OP, not me, so you’re clearly not actually addressing me.

Platner is a former imperialist boot, and does have Nazi tattoos, and continuing to support the democrats over any worker-forward parties will not advance the interests of the working classes. These are my claims, I am not OP, and throwing petty schoolyard insults at me rather than responding to my actual claims isn’t going to help anything.

No idea what you’re insinuating with the caviar bit.

Do you think you’re convincing anyone with petty insults?

What evidence runs counter to the fact that supporting bourgeois parties will never empower the proletariat?

The broad characteristics of imperialism as a stage in capitalism were observed by Hobson. Lenin then codified it and created the basis of the theory, that still holds up today. As conditions have evolved, Nkrumah, Cheng Enfu, and more have carried this same basic analysis to modern, contemporary conditions, such as the transition from European supremacy to Statesian supremacy.

The Roman Empire had a system of imperialism that, in function, is entirely different from modern imperialism. They could just as easily be understood as entirely different words, as they function entirely differently, same with early tribal communism and future, highly industrialized communism.

I’m not handwaiving history, I am definitively stating that the imperialist stage of capitalism only came to be in the turn of the 20th century. It may be similar in some ways to previous forms of imperialism, but these forms no longer exist and are relics of history.

My argument isn’t flawed, you’re more than capable of comprehending it. Again, do you have any objections to the Marxist understanding of imperialism? Why do you believe the vibe-based understanding is better?

There are, like PSL! They are just kept away from the levers of power.

Continuing to support bourgeois parties will never result in proletarian emancipation. Supporting a violent war criminal with Nazi tattoos is what voting blue no matter who has led to.

No, I’m using the original and developed understanding of imperialism as a stage in capitalism, advanced by people actively fighting against it. Lenin famously overthrew Tsarist Russia, established socialism, and got rid of Russia’s imperial holdings, after writing Imperialism, the Current Highest Stage of Capitalism. Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian that fought against neocolonialism, and wrote Neocolonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism, and Cheng Enfu is one of China’s top economists and theorists of neoimperialism.

Prior forms of pre-capitalist imperialism are not at all what we observe today. The Roman Empire no longer exists. Imperialism as a stage in capitalism is the only form of imperialism that exists at present, which is why we need to analyze it as such. I am thinking about imperialism critically, that’s why I analyze it as a material system and study it, rather than reduce it to a vibe. Do you have any objections to the Marxist understanding of imperialism? Why do you believe the vibe-based understanding is better?

You are redefining imperialism. I’m following imperialism as it was first analyzed by John A. Hobson as it was arising in its modern form, then correctly carried forward and codified by Lenin, then advanced to the modern day by people like Nkrumah and Cheng Enfu. Imperialism is characterized by the following:

-The presence of monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life.

-The merging of bank capital with industrial capital into finance capital controlled by a financial oligarchy.

-The export of capital as distinguished from the simple export of commodities.

-The formation of international monopolist capitalist associations (cartels) and multinational corporations.

-The domination and exploitation of other countries by militaristic imperialist powers, now through neocolonialism.

-The territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.

These are the mechanisms by which imperialism functions today, and they do not apply to Russia. Russia is largely a commodity exporter, with a paltry sum of finance capital, and no colonies nor neocolonies. Russia is not economically exploiting the global south, either. It is not colonial, nor neocolonial, nor imperialist.

Russia is governed by nationalists. Fascist is cutting it a bit, but I won’t hotly contest that like I would the farcical claims that it is imperialist. Fascism is best understood as capitalism in decay, the logic of colonialism applied domestically. Russia doesn’t quite fit that, though it is squarely nationalist and capitalist, and certainly not imperialist.

Yep, or they think it’s ironic that a pro-China instance is blocked in China. The problem is the Mali domain, not an ideological difference.