The state of South Africa, 28ish years post-apartheid
Back when I read books, one of my favorites was &quot;My traitor&#x27;s heart&quot; (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;My_Traitor's_Heart" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;My_Traitor's_Heart</a>) which is a riveting, honest and balanced (IMHO) look at post-apartheid from a man who fled the country in the 80s, then returned to revisit his homeland, acknowledging his own family&#x27;s terrible history in SA.<p>I also found this funny:<p><i>The SA government became involved to avoid having a hostile Soviet-aligned country on their doorstep facilitating an armed resistance against their rule (at least that’s what they claimed, and there are reasons to believe them) - the ANC was involved, because, well, they saw themselves (and many members still do, as I pointed out above) as a revolutionary member of a community of anti-imperialist forces aimed at the emancipation of the African proletariat.</i><p>I read over and over about strategists in all governments playing their chess pieces to avoid domination by other world powers. There is no laughable irony in what happened in Afghanistan when you read back about the soviet and US involvement and the revolving door of friendships that turned into enemies, and then back.<p>It seems crazy that we have a bonafide war in Ukraine right now, and so many world powers are avoiding getting involved directly, but are constantly involved indirectly and surreptitiously over and over to great detriment.<p>I wonder how the people in power form their opinions about what actions are necessary, and how the people making these decisions climb higher and higher into positions of power and decision making when the results all seem so awful. I suppose I&#x27;m only hearing about the bad outcomes, not the successes.<p>Does anyone have examples of a world power funding a revolutionary force and it ending in peace and prosperity?