If, as it seems, the president of the United States takes orders from Israel, this makes Israel today’s arch-imperialist power, which is strange insofar as Israel apparently, alone, among history’s successive hegemonic powers, is uniquely lacking in an ideological justification with something approaching plausibility for external, and not just internal, consumption. To be God’s chosen people can surely be flattering and praiseworthy only to those who can see themselves as included in this category. Does this mean that such an imperialist power can rely only on blackmail to maintain its position?

The first of the European powers to seek hegemony over the New World was Portugal, whose supremacy was quickly challenged, with the assistance of the Dutch, by Spain.

Here is a timeline, presented by Robin Blackburn in his book “The Making of New World Slavery” (p.9)

“The theory of empire which the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Dutch and English came to expound appealed to God-given rights, but with interesting differences of emphasis. The Portuguese emphasized their rights as “discoverers”, not so much of the land as of the sea-routes between Europe and the newly discovered coast; Portuguese captains were required to register navigational details of their discoveries as well as marking them with a stone cross. The Spanish monarch claimed to rule the Americas by a God-given right of conquest , so long as the ceremony of the ‘Requirement’ demanding peaceful submission had been observed. Supposedly the Aztec and Inca rulers, having failed to respond and having obstructed the Spaniards’ free movements, had been conquered in a ‘just war’. The French believed the Spanish ‘Requirement’ and conquest were a mockery of Christian behavior and violated the God-given natural rights of the indigenous peoples. The French, therefore, appeared in the New World as friends and allies of the natives, and supposedly established colonies only with their unforced consent. The Dutch asserted their right not simply as navigators but principally as traders; in contrast to the Iberian powers they believed that there was a God-given natural right of all to sail the high seas in pursuit of trade, and to the better life that commerce brought with it. Finally, the English laid stress on the fact that their colonists, as cultivators or “planters”, were making better use of the land than native hunters-and-gatherers or colonial rivals, and thus enjoyed Divine sanction.

This bare summary simply picks out the most salient feature in each imperialist ideology; in practice the various powers constantly sought to imitate one another’s successes and learn from their mistakes. But their competitive success naturally depends upon the resources and institutions each could dispose of. While the Spanish approach, at one extreme, was highly dependent on state initiative and control, the English formula, at the other, critically depended upon the initiative and competence of the colonists themselves, albeit within the terms of some royal charter or bequest. “

Fast forward to today’s would-be appropriation of “the global South” by a coalition headed by Russia and China, the formerly Communist allies and rivals. Is it a new characteristic of this latest effort for the imposition of global hegemony that it no longer seeks to implant its own language but most probably contents itself with taking over the language and culture of its predecessor, as Rome largely did before it? One question among the many.

Postscript

This is a message from Yanis Varoufakis, economist, former finance minister of Greece, author of numerous bestselling books and contributor to the Australia Institute Press’s latest book, A Time for Bravery: What happens when Australia chooses courage?

Hear from me firsthand in conversation with Australia Institute Deputy Director Ebony Bennett on Zoom, Wednesday 4 March, 11 AM AEDT.

Comment from W.H.

I participated in this online discussion, posting two questions to Yanis in the chat.

1. What is your attitude to the proposal of Professor Ian Brighthope for secession of Western Australia? https://cairnsnews.org/2026/02/27/labor-government-treats-states-like-cash-cows-milking-resources-starving-their-potential-time-to-secede/

2. Do you feel that it would be good for you and Liz Gunn to collaborate? (Is Yanis even aware of the existence of LIz Gunn?) Neither of these questions were noticed, much less answered. Yanis did however manage to include a comment on the value of “vaccinations” as public health measures.