Interesting that Kojève and Bataille were pals. Might be relevant to the following: > In “Colonialism from a European Perspective,” Kojève argued that the ind

Interesting that Kojève and Bataille were pals. Might be relevant to the following: > In “Colonialism from a European Perspective,” Kojève argued that the industrial nations of Europe should give financial aid to the “underdeveloped countries” that were their current or former colonies. Drawing on anthropologist Marcel Mauss’s theory of the gift and Bataille’s theory of expenditure, Kojève called this “giving colonialism.” Bataille did suggest this in his book The Accursed Share, specifically that the US should give all its excess wealth to India "without reciprocation". He posits that energy (wealth) that isn't used for maintenance or growth can only be wasted on war or luxuries like monuments, calling that wealth the book's namesake. What he misses is that there are other options, like investing in research which can open up new avenues for growth, or hoarding commodities (thereby storing the wealth) like China is doing with rare earths. Whether either of those (or other options) is a good idea is a separate question, of course. This is just a personal take, but I consider this in conflict with (my interpretation of) Bataille's famous essay, The Solar Anus. Perhaps if he was able to conceive of the above, that wouldn't be the case.