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(OPE-L) 1, 2, 3, how many imperialist powers?

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Paul C, responding to Paul B, wrote on Tuesday, May 27:

> He  (Michael E, JL) was making a fair point that Germany at
> present is not an  imperial power. Clearly it was in the past,
> it might be in the future but it is not one now.
> The USA clearly is an imperial power, and so is France, and the UK
> is in the process of re-establishing itself as such.

We agree that the US, France, and the UK are imperialist powers.
Why not Germany?  Why not Japan?  Why not many other
advanced capitalist nations?  Why not e.g. Sweden and Switzerland?

I gather you are presupposing that a military is a precondition for
imperialism?  How so?  Can't the export of capital, the growth of
finance capital, the territorial division of the world among the capitalist
powers, etc. proceed without all of those great powers needing a military?

While Germany doesn't have a military, what about the role of German
banks and German-based transnational corporations in world markets
and the EU?  Clearly Germany is the biggest economic power in the EU.
Isn't the EU imperialist?

In solidarity, Jerry
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