Who are the imperialists?

You know what really bothers me? When Europeans talk about the Americans being imperialistic. Especially the french. How can they talk about the US being imperialistic, when they themselves are? France still has colonies all over the world, mainly in the Americas. Martiniqe, anyone? And the only places france ever does anything to intervene in anything are its former colonies. Think Chad-Libya.

Just a bit hypocritical, no?

What also really bugs me is when people say that the Middle-East cannot have democracy*. It goes against their culture and history, speak the nay-sayers. I can think of a few places that have democracy now that never had it before. And the US helped them into it. Germany, for instance. Ruled by kings and princes...forever, basically. We all know what happened the first time they tried democracy. When we went in and helped them, it went a lot smoother, wouldn't you agree? Same with Japan. Rigid feudal caste system, for millenia. Then we come in. Look where it is now.

There are many examples of democracy that we didn't have to help along, too. Think Britain and "its" commonwealths, for instance. Indonesia looks to be taking to it quite well, even though it has a Muslim majority, and even with staunch Islamist resistance. You can think of some others.

If all those places can have a democracy, why not Iraq? Why not Afganistan? Just because they are those pore brown peeples? Is democracy only for us rich white folk? I think not. As Japan has shown us, even collectivist societies can embrace a governmental system where the individual can make decisions. And the Middle East is definitely not anywhere near as collectivist as Japan. Why shouldn't we give them a chance to rule their own lives, as opposed to some dictator?

*by democracy I mean constitutional or parliamentary republic