Thank you Caitlin. A great article as usual.
Actually, I think China is on its way to end these succeeding empires of the West which started 400+ years with colonization. If nuclear war is averted, this US empire will fall. But, there is a deeper problem. Humanity seems to recreate these oligarchical exploitative structure in many different ways.
Awakening people, even all people to the horrors of empire is not enough to avoid recreating similar horrific exploitation systems. And moral principles alone can actually support exploitation. For example, Christianity did so and this was clearly demonstrated by the atrocious history of the Catholic Church.
What is needed is a system or principles for a system that would foster cooperation and completely inhibit systemic exploitation. Failing that, horrific parts of history will keep repeating themselves.
And yes, even with the conception of such a system, it will take a long time to defeat todays horrors… but, we should never stop working for a better world.