Global South Finds 'Mercenaries,' U.S. Calls Them 'Advisors'
South Africa is launching an investigation into 17 of its citizens who ended up fighting in Ukraine, lured by 'lucrative employment contracts' and now seeking repatriation, as per The Guardian. The optics are clear: young men, aged 20-39, embroiled in a foreign conflict, now branded 'mercenaries.' (One wonders if the term 'freedom fighter' was already reserved.) Yet, when private military
contractors like DynCorp or Blackwater (now Academi) deployed personnel globally, often with U.S. government contracts, their operations rarely drew the 'mercenary' label from Western outlets. When the U.S. funds and equips foreign fighters, whether in Syria or Ukraine, they are 'rebels,' 'allies,' or 'advisors.' South Africa, still navigating the legacy of apartheid and its complex relationship
with global powers, calls theirs 'mercenaries.' The double standard isn't merely semantic; it dictates whose lives are worth investigating and whose are simply collateral for 'geopolitical interests.'