upon first read, i've two things.
first is technical: should not the arctic monkeys be treated as a proper noun?
second is somewhat technical, somewhat style: when you say <!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->not one solitary mention of the consequences <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> are you absoutely certain about this? absolutes can weaken the integrity of the voice because it is one form of hyperbole. there are many ways you could get your initial message across. you could really try to humanize yourself and say: "no matter how hard i've looked, i have yet to find..." or even a simple: "few, if any."
are you limited for length of the article? maybe referencing historical failures with imperialism? if you wanted, you could get all crazy with the student theme and reference ideas like: "i've been taught to learn from history" and "it is as though i'm supposed to ignore my education" see what i'm trying to get at?
just some ideas.
i'll have to give it a couple more reads to comment on the deeper issues.
i do like it though. it's very tight, succinct.