They say Russia must end its occupation of Ukraine, Georgia, and parts of Africa. Fair enough. But it makes me think of something else. When the West speaks about “liberation” or “defense of democracy,” what does it really mean?
I have seen too many headlines that sound noble and end in rubble.
The Mirror We Refuse to Face
Take Iraq. The invasion that promised freedom left more than a million people dead and a generation without homes. Libya, once stable if repressive, was turned into a marketplace for human trafficking. Afghanistan was abandoned after twenty years of “nation-building,” leaving behind chaos and broken promises.
The tools are different but the method is the same. Airstrikes instead of tanks. Sanctions instead of soldiers. Loans and “partnerships” instead of open control. Yet the result is still dependence, still humiliation, still the loss of dignity for ordinary people.
A Softer Vocabulary for the Same Idea
Russia uses words like “security” and “protection.” America says “peacekeeping” and “counterterrorism.” Europe prefers “stabilization.”
Each finds a word to justify power. Each exports its will in the name of a higher cause.
In the Middle East, in Africa, in parts of Asia, the story repeats. Behind every noble declaration, there are oil routes, military bases, or mineral concessions. The flags change, the pattern does not.
The Human Cost Hidden in Plain Sight
When a family in Tripoli or Mosul loses their home, do they care whether the missile came from Moscow or Washington?
When food prices rise in Sudan or sanctions suffocate Iran, does the flag on the embargo matter?
Empires compete, and people pay. That is the part rarely shown in press briefings.
What If We Stepped Back
Maybe it is not about Russia versus the West at all. Maybe it is about how both sides see the rest of the world — not as equals, but as spaces to be managed, tested, or saved.
The tragedy is that moral language hides material hunger. Every empire learns to preach goodness to justify its reach. And every generation forgets how familiar it sounds.
Maybe that is what real decolonization means. Not slogans, not flags. Just learning to see power for what it is, wherever it comes from.
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