 Even in the EU, the product of imperialist designs to supplant the historic internecine battles, there has emerged ever-deepening crises and conflicts and movements to assert nationalist interests against one another. Against the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, the imperialist system, as directed by the U.S., has launched wars such as in Iraq and Afghanistan at huge costs, trillions of dollars, and immeasurable losses in political credibility and imperialist authority.