Woke hypocrites ignore modern imperialism

They reserve their ignorant fury for empires of the past, not for the ones being built by Russia and China today

Beware of -isms. The term “imperialism” is terribly imprecise. Should we define it in Lenin’s terms as the “highest stage of capitalism”? But then much will depend on what we mean by capitalism, and empires have been around much longer than that. Woke enthusiasts for critical race theory may mention the world empire created by 16th-century Spain, without saying anything about the empires created by the Aztecs and the Incas on the backs of other native peoples of the Americas. Instead, the term “imperialism” has become attached to the empires created by Portugal, Spain, Holland, France and Britain, each of which had a very distinctive character.

But imperialism seems to be on the way back. Over the past few centuries, Russia and China conquered peoples and carved out their borders in competition for the Eurasian landmass, and even now tensions occasionally erupt between them along the Amur River in western Siberia.

Tension in and around the South China Sea is nothing new, either: in the 15th century the famous eunuch admiral Zheng He managed to bring Java to heel, and established a base at Melaka in what is now Malaysia. China’s “Belt and Road” strategy frequently cites Zheng He’s voyages, and has resulted in the creation of naval bases at Gwadar and Djibouti, in waters where Zheng He sailed. Djibouti is highly desirable: it commands the straits leading into the Red Sea, and Gwadar in Pakistan, close to the Persian Gulf, is the intended terminus of a railway running all the way to Beijing.

The echoes of the past are also becoming louder in eastern Europe. What 19th-century historians called the “Eastern Question” has been revived as Vladimir Putin sits tight in Crimea, contemplates an invasion of Ukraine and continues to offer support to the brutal regime in Belarus.

Will a contrived border incident spark a war that results in the fall of Kyiv? That would echo the moment in 1939 when Germany and Russia suddenly became allies and decided to carve up Poland. The Russian claim to Ukraine is based on a particular reading of history where the foundation of a principality around Kyiv in the 10th century is seen as the birth of Mother Russia. In Soviet days it was considered unwise to emphasise that the founders of the principality were Viking warriors from the Baltic rather than Slavs.

But where are the voices on the woke Left denouncing Putin’s attempt to sew back the disjointed fragments of the Soviet Union, something that can only be described as a new brand of imperialism? They only seem to care about imperialism if Britain or the like can be held responsible. If they think about the present day at all, it is to attack a country such as Israel. Those activists who argue that the West Bank settlements are illegal say nothing about the legality of the occupation of Crimea.

We thought that we were living in an age when the forcible acquisition of territory based on obsolete historical claims should no longer be possible. The Baltic states are understandably nervous, particularly when Moscow makes noises about the Russianspeaking populations in their countries. Having travelled by road across the Baltic states three years ago, I wonder whether the surprising narrowness of the roads linking them is a deliberate defensive move intended to slow the advance of an invading army – if so, a wise precaution.

To the woke, though, they are far-off countries of which they know nothing. As the world seems to be building up towards what has been described as potentially the gravest crisis since the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, far-Left activists gleefully concentrate on the evils of vanished empires created several centuries ago, and obstinately ignore one that is being recreated on Europe’s doorstep at this very moment.