Source: America’s Imperial Empire by Prof. James Petras
Tiers of Imperial Allies in the West
Western imperialism is a complex pyramidal structure where the dominant United States interacts through a five-tier system. There is a vertical and horizontal configuration of leader and follower states that cannot be understood through simplistic ‘solar system’ metaphors of ‘centers, semi-peripheries and peripheries’.
Western imperial power extends and overlaps from the first tier to the second, that is, from the United States to France, England, Germany, Italy and Canada. The scope and depth of US military, bureaucratic, political and economic institutions form the framework within which the followers operate.
The second tier of empire ties the top tier to the bottom tiers by providing military support and economic linkages, while securing autonomous levers to enlarge its own geo-political spheres.
The third tier of imperialism in the West comprises Poland, Scandinavia, the Low Countries and Baltic States. These are geographically and economically within the sphere of Western Europe and militarily dependent on US-NATO military dominance. The third tier is a heterogeneous group, ranging from highly advanced and sophisticated welfare-states like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium to relatively backward Baltic dependencies like Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania and Poland. They exercise few independent power initiatives and depend on protection from the Tier 1 and 2 imperial centers.
‘Tier four’ states include countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These are essentially satellite nations, who follow the leader imperial countries, providing bases, troops and tourist resorts. In general, they have no independent voice or decision-making presence in regional or global conflicts. Despite their instability and the occasional outbursts of radical dissent, , the lower tier countries have yet to break with the higher tiers controlled by the EU and NATO hierarchy.
The fifth-tier satellites include recently fabricated mini-states like Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia, which act as military bases, tourist havens and economic dependencies. They are the outcome of the first-tier and second-tier policies of ‘regime change’ and state dismemberment through NATO-led wars designed to destroy any remnant of the multi-ethnic social welfare states and degrade Russian influence, especially in Yugoslavia.
An overview of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci’s contribution to the theory of ideology. Especially, the concept of hegemony as described in the Prison Notebooks.
17. okt. 2022 – Europe Howls of Fear and Grievance! Russia has Finally Finished Off the EU with the Help of China!
Against the backdrop of a rapidly growing energy crisis and a weakening economy in the EU and the US, China and Russia continue to present unpleasant surprises to Western countries. So it became known that Beijing banned Chinese companies from selling LNG to the European Union. In China, this decision was explained by the fact that the country itself would allegedly need a large amount of gas during the winter period, and therefore all gas reserves that were intended for export would be used to support Chinese enterprises within the country. This Chinese decision dealt another crushing blow to the rapidly weakening EU economy. The EU, after declaring economic war on Russia, began the continuous printing of European currency to buy gas from wherever possible.
geopolitics abc 