I very much disagree with the non-zero-sum non-predatory framing of Western ‘expansion of liberal political values.’ As mentioned in the piece, University of London School of Economics puts the level of robbery of developing nations by ‘liberal western democracies’ at $10 trillion a year. The data shows it’s very much zero-sum and that’s why these poor nations aren’t developing. They’re neo-colonies. The post-WWII invention was setting up pretend liberal institutions like the World Bank or IMF that then continue to facilitate colonial extraction in another form.

Direct colonialism wasn’t pretty so they hid it. It’s smoke and mirrors with the same result, Nathan.

There’s a reason they always say ‘a rules-based order.’ That means whatever rules America and the West want to impose when it should be an ‘international law-based order’ which would immediately make the US the biggest violator in the world since it treats the UN Charter like a joke.

Thanks for the read and the words, brother.