"Going west was their enlargement. They found the Rocky Mountains; we found Prague and Budapest," Mr Prodi declares, leaving grave concerns for what lays in store for the hapless inhabitants of Eastern Europe.  Brian Denny looks at the new imperialism and the ravings of some Big Chiefs and wonders whether enlargement will end up as nothing more than another Trail of Tears.

Just before the bombing of Afghanistan last year, senior Foreign Office diplomat and chief Blair advisor Robert Cooper published a piece in Prospect magazine promoting 'imperialism' as a serious concept to enable western powers to rule the world. This explicitly put forward the intellectual case for a new European empire to rule the resource-rich and, equally, poverty-stricken third world.

"All the conditions seem to be there for a new imperialism. There are countries which need an outside force to create stability (recently in Sierra Leone a rally called for the return of British rule)." He freely admits that this rather maniacal view of the world will involve tearing up the United Nations charter respecting the rights of nation states to self-determination and sovereignty.

He also proposes the basis of this "co-operative empire or Commonwealth" lay within the European Union where the strong will rule the "weak states." This is extreme realpolitik in action and our Mr Cooper is inspired by that paragon of democracy and freedom - The Roman Empire.

"Like Rome, this Europe would provide its citizens with some laws, some coins and the occasional road. None of this will be easy but perhaps it is possible to imagine a future Europe, with 30 or so members as a modernised, democratic, co-operative empire."

Cooper's "noble dream", as he put it, was updated recently with the publication of his pamphlet Reordering the World by the spooky Foreign Policy Centre, complete with foreword by Blair himself. It cold-bloodedly explains the need for the west to engage in brutal military action against weaker states in the political and economic interests of the western powers.

"The post modern world has to start to get used to double standards. Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open co-operative security. But, when dealing with old-fashioned states outside the postmodern continent of Europe we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era - force, pre-emptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century.

"The need for colonisation is as great as it ever was in the 19th century," he says. So that's clear then.

This exposes the real thinking behind the attacks on Afghanistan (Mr Cooper represented Britain at the Bonn conference which carved up the country in December) as well as the British occupation of Sierra Leone, the bombing of Yugoslavia and the whole 'postmodern' Eurofederalist project itself. It also produced headlines in stunned sections of the press who are not quite up to speed on the new 'moral' world order.

The Guardian stepped in to smooth down the edges of Cooper’s bellicose vision of empire by reassuring liberal readers that it was being done in their interests.

First of all, leading Eurofanatic Hugo Young admonished Labour MPs like Tam Dalyell and Alan Simpson who had the temerity to question Cooper's vision and claimed that the diplomat was simply misunderstood.

Then the editorial made things clear for mere mortals.

"One of the frustrating aspects of this story is that Mr Cooper is someone with things to say that deserve to be heard and not caricatured. His subtext - and sometimes his text itself - is that of a committed European who wants to extend the EU model, and its values, to the rest of Europe and who believes that global stability and liberty provide the best context for it."

If the new imperialism is indeed about "extending the EU model" it is worth looking at what this creature exactly is.

It is well known that if the European Union applied to join the EU it would fail miserably on all counts even by it’s own criteria. The main decision making bodies ­ the Commission, the Council of Ministers, and the European Central Bank ­ have no electoral mandate and meet in
secret. The Commission has the monopoly right to propose new EU laws. The Council then decides whether to approve of these measures but in reality the vast majority of its decisions are taken by a faceless permanent committee of civil servants (COREPER).

Finland's deputy ambassador Kare Hanolen who sits on this committee highlighted the true extent of its power last week in the Financial Times.

"This is a forum where I feel I really have influence. It's really legislative work. The bigger part of legislation entering into force in my country is something that is decided in Brussels," she proudly declares. Elections to the European Parliament cannot affect the composition of the
most important EU decision-making bodies.

The European Commission, the body that has the monopoly right to propose new laws in Brussels, remains unchanged following each election to the European Parliament, regardless of who has won or lost.

The Frankfurt-based bank which has assumed control over the most important economic decision making powers for those countries in the Eurozone is also unelected.

Under article 107 of the EU treaty it is an offence for any elected politician to even write to the Bank requesting a change of policy.

These arrangements reveal that the EU does already run along the lines of Mr Cooper's beloved Roman empire rather than any recognisable form of liberal democracy. This is widely accepted by leading euro enthusiasts such as Peter Mandelson who declared before the last election "the age of pure representative democracy is coming to an end."

European President Romano Prodi also makes revealing statements about the nature of the EU, pointing to the US empire as his inspiration for a new European "superpower."

"Going west was their enlargement. They found the Rocky Mountains; we found Prague and Budapest," he declares, leaving grave concerns for what lays in store for the hapless inhabitants of Eastern Europe.

Cooper’s 'Reordering the World' has simply articulated Brussels drive to remove national democratic rights to allow the larger powers to internally dominate Europe and to externally build a global empire.

This was of course exactly the dreams of European imperialism and fascism in the past, which was also wrapped up in politically correct gobbledegook in order to sanctify and legitimise it’s own power lust.

Brian Denny is foreign editor of the UK daily socialist newspaper, The Morning Star.