call it what you want, it's not even the main point i was making in that post. i was just asking why blackx was so adamant about american drone and bomb strikes being an overstated factor when it comes to the motivations of islamist terrorists. of course he dodged that question, since he doesn't have anything to support his stance, and the obvious goal was to downplay america's role in creating those terrorists...

that said: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism
plenty of academic sources that use the term. but i know that to people like you, everyone who isn't a far-right xenophobe is "extreme left"...

You're thinking of colonialism.

Believe it or not the things the right wants to make into buzzwords, like socialism, communism, colonialism, imperialism, those are actual words with real meanings.

Words are based on historical realities. Imperialism historically has almost always been accompanied by some sort of logical reason for taking over like exploiting the colony, harvesting resources, trade, harvesting slaves, etc.

Afghanistan doesn’t fit that narrative for us really.

You are restricting the "logical reasons" to those of colonialism. Try to rub your two brain cells together and google the definition of imperialism, and then realize it extends beyond colonizing.

https://www.yourdictionary.com/imperialism

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Aug 27 2021 08:52pm

Read your own link dumb fuck. Trying to separate imperialism and colonialism is like separating water and wetness. Think real hard, whether it was England, Russia, France, Spain, Japan, Roman empire, all of these empires set up colonies for some beneficial purpose to the empire.

and yet not all imperialism was colonial in nature. Like our ventures into the middle east.

Man, this isn't hard. Colonialism is a subset of imperialism. You could have also gotten that from the other 4 definitions on the page, because only children rely on a single definition to prove their point. But I guess I forgot who I was talking too...

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Aug 27 2021 09:10pm

He is right though that imperialism is inextricably linked with exploitation. In theory, imperialism for the sake of it is possible. In reality, countries don't just seek control of other places (and pour resources into this goal) unless it furthers their own power on the global stage and/or offers them economic benefits. Neither of which applies to Afghanistan.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Aug 27 2021 10:09pm

Except our invasion of Afghanistan did further our own goal on the global stage. They were harboring Al Qaeda who were our direct enemy on the global stage, and they were harboring Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora.

Guys, it's not rocket science that imperialism still exists and that imperialism is not limited to colonialism. These words have accepted usages and aren't just meaningless buzz words.

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Aug 27 2021 10:20pm

You say it: the invasion of Afghanistan furthered a strategic goal. The subsequent, 20 year long occupation of Afghanistan did not. After not more than a handful of years, international troops should have pulled out of Afghanistan.

The war in Afghanistan is a bad example for imperialism because the motivation for its continuation after c. 2004 was domestic politics rather than geostrategic or economic. By then, the operation had achieved its primary objective and all attainable secondary objectives. The only reason it was continued was that no political leader wanted to lose face by giving up on Afghanistan, or make an enemy out of the military-industrial complex which profited greatly from the war.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on Aug 27 2021 10:37pm

Cool story bro.

Now go back to the conversation and acknowledge that imperialism still exists. Were still using our military to interfere with other countries. Imperialism is alive and well.