US Frets Over China's 'Threat' to Nigeria, Ignores Own History
China, apparently, found the US 'threat' to Nigeria—reportedly over infrastructure deals—to be 'wanton'. A curious choice of words given Washington's extensive historical resume of 'wanton threats' and interventions across the globe, from Latin America to Southeast Asia. While Newsweek focuses on Beijing's diplomatic scolding (which, let's be frank, sounds an awful lot like US State Department
rhetoric when Russia or China do anything), it skips the context of how the US often leverages its financial 'assistance' for strategic compliance, not just development. One might even call it a time-honored tradition. (See: various coups and destabilizations since 1953). The irony is thick enough to cut with a machete. The US criticizes Chinese 'debt traps' while its own foreign policy, often
intertwined with military aid packages and IMF/World Bank conditionalities, ensures a perpetual cycle of dependency for developing nations. It's not a threat, you see, it's just 'economic diplomacy' when Washington does it. China merely appears to be taking notes from the master.