It’s actually impressive to me how the West and its satellites are able to so impressively compartmentalize their propagandistic narratives in the service of war and imperialism, even digging up shit like this when “hindsight” is supposed to be a thing. It’s not like this ended in any case. They will support Chechen freedom fighters against RuZZian orcs one day while also emphasizing Israel as a bulwark against radical Islamic hordes the next.
The reason why the US government does this shit is because absent conflict the rest of the world would rapidly catch up to the usa in productive capacity. Like building factories isn't complicated once you have the labor available. So the US basically just smashes as much shit around the world as it can because so long as something gets broke it doesn't ultimately matter. This is why empire is so schizophrenic, the random destruction is the point.
See: China.
I agree with your general point but I think this is not true at all. If it were, India would be just as developed as China, and Africa would not lag so far behind. You need people, resources, knowledge, and most importantly the good governence to tie it all together. India and Africa lack for neither people nor resources, but governence is where they sadly fall short.
Africa falls behind because the capital and the resources that would develop their industries and productive forces is being stolen through violence, and because they got repeatedly sabotaged and politically debilitaded.
Your way of putting the situation obscures the exploitative and violent nature of imperialism and places the blame on the country getting pillaged, as if they just can't figure out how to use their own resources or govern themselves.