Imperial war and its ongoing legacy: how colonial superpower interests rise above the law

Through reflecting on the US' current interests and continual precedent to engage with and provide support and direct military action to allied nations at war, further exemplifies the sentiment that war is only beneficial for the already internationally influential superpowers wishing to further preserve and maintain their capitalist and colonial expansionist agenda. Lenin's sentiment on the rise of global imperialism as being the highest stage of capitalism all rapidly expanding nations aim for to reach their ultimate in development as sovereign states clearly remains hugely apparent. This is merely a means of demonstrating authoritarian influence and displaying patterns of power believed to be constant and unchanging, thus providing effective foundations for future neo-colonial means of using culture, political ideals and Western based means of accelerating economic change to support their individual internationalist capitalist interests, these are what Pregger-Roman considers as "series of exploitative commercial relationships", these being achieved through mercantilism, industrial advancement and international trade, all core elements of global capitalist society. This perfectly complements much of Trotsky and Luxemburg's theory on the importance of globalising a continual and sustainably executed revolution, and acts as the exact antithesis to much of Kautsky and Bernstein's dialect, by which imperialism and socialist revolution are seen to effectively take place in conjunction with each other's mutual existence, and thus not appear to be counterintuitive and representative of the opposing capitalist ideals that Lenin describes.

These ideals can be effectively applied and used to condemn and oppose unjustifiable imperial violence and abuse of military power (as is currently being observed with nations such as the US and Israel) to control and exploit land, resources, and the potential geostrategic benefits to other nations affected by conflict and repression, overshadowed, denied and made unimportant by them through drawing about claims of self-defence and direct attacks against the supposed enemy. This can thus be seen to appear as an effective means by which to remain corrupt and not transparent over unlawful activities and make death and genocide seem somewhat more palatable to a wider audience. This can be observed through the US and the UK governments' complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and more recently the illegal occupation and bombing of Iran and Lebanon, and the blocking supplies of aid to Cuba. 

Equally, Security also continues to remain a significant issue and major strain on the affected nations undergoing unresolved conflict, and one which is complex, multifaceted and without clear cut means of effective resolution. This has been a particularly significant issue with the US and the Middle East's relations, in that the US was directly present and an active contributor to this region, at the same time Iran facilitated a major security complex with the US when under the Shah. This, in spite of on the surface appearing to be important in developing their geopolitical power and position with economic relations and interconnectivity, it helped their exploitation and ongoing threats from abroad led by the US. This acted as the key point by which the Iranian economy began to decline and reliance on the US continued to be at its greatest, thus effectively foreshadowing today's conflicts. This was a period of major conservativism and authoritarian governance for Iran domestically, as well as, somewhat ironically, their greater assertiveness against alternative western authoritarianism, and their status as the supposed e ‘Policeman’ of the Gulf and the strongest US ally in the Middle East" (Hussain, 2015). This can thus exemplify sentiments that imperialism and the actions that lead to it are favoured by rapidly expanding global powers of varying levels of development to further support their international capitalist influence, as was hypothesised perhaps in much Leninist dialect, potentially showing clear parallels with the globalisation of the Russian Revolution.

This has been overshadowed through claims that the bombing of Iran would be a means of bringing about peace through the overthrowing of a far right government (in spite of obvious breaches of international law by which unjustifiable and illegal violence against innocent civilians has taken place). This has proven to act as a crucial turning point for the rise in far right violence and ultra-imperial, supremacist and fascist attitudes having become increasingly apparent. This, as well as being clearly influenced by a sense of fear and desperation due to failures of current political systems, leads to the ideal conditions for fascist extremism to flourish. The highest stages of supposed development through extremes in capitalist influence and superpower status can thus be reached. Moreover, leading on from this point, it can be seen that there is a common recurring pattern of resource demands and the need to further extrapolate internationally valuable commodities (typically oil, cash crops and fossil fuels) so as to assist the accumulation of greater wealth and economic power, and gain control over more valuable land to fulfil their neo-colonial aims. These appear to exclusively support only the developed imperial world. This, therefore, acts as further explanation to substantiate claims presented here that imperial war only functions as a means by which the already influential highly developed nations can further preserve and expand their own geopolitical influence at the major price of having the majority of the world undergo major socioeconomic and political challenges with lasting impacts for the future stability and prosperity of much of the world.