As I said before, I don’t deny that there aren’t any signs of subordination (or rather neocolonialism), but I just don’t think the matter can be answered in such a binary way. Of course the EU capital is in a very bad place currently and is losing on a lot (if not all) of the fronts, which is why they are subordinating/losing more to US capital. But that does not make them a neocolony.

I agree that cheap energy is in the best interest of the EU, because their industries depended on that for a long long time and they gutted the alternatives. I think I need to be more precise and say German industry mostly. But I disagree that it’s just the result of the EU capital losing with the US capital or rather subordinating. There are notable contradictions inside the EU as well, as even before the war, europeans had very different opinions on Russia and f.e. the Nordstream pipeline (see Poland’s stance on that matter).

I also disagree that they are rearming just to feed off the scraps of the burgerreich. Yes, that’s also a part of the reason for rearmament as are the profits in their own military industrial complex, but I think the imperial ambitions and the need for new markets for their capital is the primary reason, to see their economies get better that way.

I think calling it an neocolony is a bit too far IMHO. Western Europe, as we don’t need to talk about Eastern Europe really, does subordinate a lot to US capital. It also kinda shows those hallmarks you listed above. But it’s just not simple.

You could see for instance during the Zelensky talks in the beginning of the year, how US and EU interests started to differ and clash. The EU fought hard to keep US support for Ukraine coming and also tried to hinder peace talks between Russia and the US as much as possible. There was even an initiative to do the war without the US and increase the support, if it came that far. Also the fight for Greenland (though also kind of comical IMO), was an intensification of that clash.

This is a major contradiction for the EU and of the western world overall.

But I still see the EU as a major imperialist. What I think is happening is, that the EU capital knows its current weaknesses on the geopolitical scale. It tries to stay in the tow of US Imperialism for as much as possible to then use the overspeed to take the crown, so to speak and when the US inevitably falls, to take as much of the then ‘free’ markets as they can. You can easily tell by the huge rearmament taking place, that they are ready to take it by force.

I don’t rate the chance of success very high for the EU, but still that’s my two cents on the matter.

Funny, since I also had a similar experience with my grandad. We talked a bit about starting the work life with my little brother and we talked about the difficulties of finding junior work in some fields (graduating out of school and needing five years of experience type shit) and my grandpa just laughed. He told us about being assigned to a shipyard at 18. Then we had to laugh, because both that system and the shipyard no longer exist without my grandad really understanding that fact…

Very nice read, even though I was familiar with most of the contents already.

But I need to ask, does someone know why it’s exactly Poland out of all the former eastern bloc countries, to be the most (and only) successful one?

Also does anybody maybe have some literature on this topic, comparing polish economics during and after socialism?

That’s a real plesant read, ngl

I can really relate to a lot of the things said in your post and I feel the same very often. I’m not from Russia, but from a different eastern european country. I also have dual-citizenship. Yet, I feel that people like us are in a very unique situation, because it does not really matter, where we go, we won’t fit anyway in the nationalist picture.

After finishing my Abitur here, I wanted to try out something and I moved to the country of my parents to go to uni there. I was never part of the same team here (being german), but really quickly I found out, that it’s the same on the other side. There I was just the german guy. Although I wouldn’t say, that I show it off in anyway. I don’t even have an accent in both languages.

I’m happy for you, that you found a place, where you feel welcomed and not judged.

I can’t recommend Hemingway’s work enough. Especially ‘In Another Country’ is personal favorite of mine, but also I loved reading through ‘The Old Man And The Sea.’