"ideology of moral purpose and historical necessity"
Incidentally, that sounds a lot like the ideology that sustains the existence of the EU now.
Of course, the EU empire works in a different way; economic hostility towards outsiders (high tariffs and compliance cost when importing anything), access to a big common market and a lot of subventions for the insiders. It might be the first attempt to build an empire on money only.
Edit: This seems to be a very controversial comment, swinging from 3 to -2 within mere minutes.
Incidentally, that sounds a lot like the ideology that sustains the existence of the EU now.
Of course, the EU empire works in a different way; economic hostility towards outsiders (high tariffs and compliance cost when importing anything), access to a big common market and a lot of subventions for the insiders. It might be the first attempt to build an empire on money only.
Edit: This seems to be a very controversial comment, swinging from 3 to -2 within mere minutes.