The current Arab-European claim is that the Arab imperialist war against Israel is a Jewish imperialist war against Arabs.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Sudanese crossroads

Bin Laden's single narrative of a war on Islam by the West also purports to explain all the problems of the Muslim world: for example, that the long-running war between Russia and the Chechens is not a centuries-old imperialist land grab by the Russians but is rather a Western war against Islam.

CNN: From bin Laden to Boston

Times have changed since the late 1980s, when Libya, championing anti-imperialist causes around the globe, clashed with France in a proxy war in Chad, and with America over alleged support for terrorist groups.

ECONOMIST: Libya and the bombed airliners

And after the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Roosevelt changed America's diplomatic posture from competitor with the other imperialist powers in dominating the world to mediator in their growing conflicts.

NPR: 'Folly of Empire' Offers Critique of U.S. Imperialism

And like Vietnam, the Iraq war in which Gen Petraeus won national prominence was deeply divisive and regarded by many Americans as an imperialist exercise.

BBC: Petraeus affair: Why the cult of the American general?

The film wears its anti-imperialist, anti-corporate sentiments on its sleeve (Stephen Lang's trigger-happy military commander spouts "war on terror" slogans to hammer home the point).

CNN: Review: 'Avatar' delivers on the hype