That effectively removes any concept of agency from the rest of the world.

Imperialism is what removes agency from the world! The working masses toil at the mercy of finance capitalists in the west…with the exception of sufficiently powerful states capable of resisting the incursion of finance capital into their societies. Think China, Russia, Iran. To oppose the incursion of finance capital is the only means to exercise agency.

It is not a meme that the United States dictates to the vast majority of the globe what their policies will be, at least those that affect the export of finance capital and prevent the exploitation of its working population by foreign capitalists. It is the way the world works.

The US lIterally prevents the entire world from doing trade with Cuba. It is a fucking miracle that socialist projects like Cuba, Vietnam, and the DPRK haven’t collapsed under the pressure of imperialist coercion, whether via finance capital export or military force. This is the agency being expressed. These are amongst the few sovereign nations in the global south.

Do you think that Africans, South Americans, and Southeast Asians are incapable of developing on their own? How do you explain the vast disparity in wealth and material conditions between the west and the global south? Are they people who desire to work in utter dogshit conditions, only exporting natural resources in exchange for advanced goods produced by more civilized peoples? Do you think that the comprador regimes across the global south is an exercise of democracy? Do you think that all these countries would continue to voluntarily elect those who consistently sell out their countrymen for personal gain if not for undue influence of finance capital?

Or perhaps it is the export of finance capital that produces and maintains the conditions for unequal exchange that never permit investment in means of production that would allow for their societies to develop? If you cannot develop the means to produce goods on your own, your trade relationships will inevitably consist of those where raw materials are forever exchanged for advanced technologies, guaranteeing they are never produced domestically.

We live in an interconnected world, so no one is truly a fully independent nation anymore

We do. But the relationship is not of a deeply interconnected graph as your presentation suggests. It closely resembles a hierarchical tree with maybe a few edges connecting nodes further from tnon-logic

Claiming that they aren’t imperialistic, just because they aren’t as successful as other imperialists, is also laughable non-logic

Laughable non logic is the proposition that imperialism is merely and exclusively the exertion of military might over another. The Leninist criteria isn’t as flimsy as who can exert their will by brute military force. Your definition of imperialism, invasion or war lol, is merely noticing the byproducts of our definition, reducing war to simply an intent to conquer, never a result of protecting legitimate material interests.

Russia has no real finance capital to export. Where are the Russian banks exercising their influence? Where are Russian capitalists dictating foreign policy of other nations?..in Russia! Their finance capital has no hegemonic status, just Russian capitalists running roughshod over the Russian people.

It is not being exported. Where is the Russian IMF or World Bank? When was the last time a Russian was heading either of those institutions? It dont quack, it don’t waddle. Maybe it has feathers, but it’s not a fucking duck!

Putin’s obvious intent on bringing the previous Soviet states back under his control, is overtly imperialistic in nature

Putin’s obvious intent is not letting the Russian bourgeoisie take a big fat L from the western finance capitalists, and the resulting effects on Russian conditions. Russia would have peaceful relations with its neighbors if not for the US constantly encroaching by fomenting coups and unrest so it can move its strategic weapons ever closer to Moscow.

Russia does not want the Ukraine. He doesn’t want the mineral deposits, he doesn’t want the natural gas reserves, he doesn’t want the fertile farmland…all of which exist in FAR greater quantities within existing Russian territory. He probably wants Crimea for access to sea trade routes, but that’s about all the territorial ambition Russia really wants…to not be cut out of global trade.

He isn’t idealizing Socialism. He’s idealizing the Russian Empire.

You don’t think we know this? Everyone on Hexbear recognizes Putin as a reactionary scumbag who is opportunistically on the side of anti-imperialism.

He is as far from being a socialist as any oligarch can be.

Not really. Resisting Western hegemony is necessarily a top goal of any socialist project. Sometimes interests align between people with radically different ideological underpinnings. We don’t care that he has different views so long as he stands in solidarity with the one goal necessary to achieve all our other goals.

All he wants, is singular control over all the power, influence and capital that he can get his hands on…and by any means necessary.

This view is naïve and cartoonish. Putin is not a fucking Marvel villain. He simply wants him and his capitalist cronies to not be squashed under the thumb of western finance capital, a desire that also happens to benefit the Russian people who experienced the despair and abject suffering that occurred last time after the fall of the Soviet Union.

We don’t even fucking like the guy at all, but you libs and your fairytale views on geopolitics are forcing us to go to bat for the guy and the Russian state because we someone has to actually exist within reality and explain things in a world where magic, opinions, and personal ambitions don’t dictate the course of history.