only criticizes the means of imperialism (torture, war, destruction of infrastructure, etc.)

Even if this is what they're limited to, and it's not, there are so few media outlets who are even willing to go this far that we shouldn't be ragging on them as if they're the NYT.

and not the goals of imperialism (the replacement of governments which are hostile to the American Empire)

From an article directly about this:

Because he wants to show that Trump has destroyed an America that was “actually great,” he has to rewrite the entire history of post-World War II American foreign policy. He has to dismiss unspeakable crimes as minor blips, and avoid mentioning countless instances of intervention that show American policy to have been anything but idealistic and principled...

Perhaps the best place for Krugman to begin correcting his misimpression is the excellent Wikipedia article “United States Involvement in Regime Change.” He might learn quite a bit about how his country has pursued its noble democratic ideals over the past century or so, in “some” countries including Vietnam, Guatemala, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Congo, Grenada, Honduras, Chile, Brazil, and Cuba. The United States tried to replace foreign governments 72 times during the course of the Cold War alone.... [this paragraph goes on for a while about all the shitty things the U.S. empire has done]

I think we can see here a good example of the extreme moral contortions are necessary to avoid concluding that the United States has historically been a self-interested country largely indifferent to the welfare of anyone other than its ruling majority...

It’s not surprising to see Paul Krugman defending American empire, although it’s a little remarkable to see him literally using the word “empire” as a positive. One of the central differences between liberalism and leftism is that liberals believe American dominance over the world is a good idea, but just needs to be run by decent people, while leftists believe that it’s impossible to talk of democracy while also imposing your will on others.

Bad takes (and I agree that all of those takes you quoted are bad) on existing leftist states are not the same as not caring about the Global South, or an indifference to the evils of American Empire. This is especially evident when those bad takes on existing leftist states are at least coming from a leftist (in this case, anarchist) perspective. You've read Blackshirts and Reds -- the chapter right after "Left Anticommunism" is "Communism in Wonderland," and is 13 pages of leftist critique of the Soviet Union. You don't have to agree with every leftist critique of leftist state projects to see that there's a huge difference between that and some chud hooting about "gobunism no food."