Yes. That is very much given. In fact some of it has already happened.
Europe has effectively ceded it's position in Africa to others some time ago.
Aid based approach has led to little tangible benefit for locals, and even less for Europeans. Furthermore, conditions the recipient needed to fulfill were, and still are, often hard to accept for cultural and historical reasons. Add to it the lack of actual power projection and all you have is contempt.
It's pretty visible during any UN vote.
Simply put, investment beats aid, every single time.
The silver lining is that Russia is having it's own issues, not entirely different but similarly horrible. Namely demographic crisis, exacerbated by war and poor public health.
There is also demographic crisis in China, however their government has been wise enough to not go to all out war.
Europe has effectively ceded it's position in Africa to others some time ago.
Aid based approach has led to little tangible benefit for locals, and even less for Europeans. Furthermore, conditions the recipient needed to fulfill were, and still are, often hard to accept for cultural and historical reasons. Add to it the lack of actual power projection and all you have is contempt.
It's pretty visible during any UN vote.
Simply put, investment beats aid, every single time.
The silver lining is that Russia is having it's own issues, not entirely different but similarly horrible. Namely demographic crisis, exacerbated by war and poor public health. There is also demographic crisis in China, however their government has been wise enough to not go to all out war.