Edward Snowden: He revealed that the U.S.—while condemning authoritarian surveillance—was secretly spying on its own people, its allies, and the entire world.
By The Independentist Editorial Desk
States once thrived on secrets. Power was built on classified files, backroom deals, and official lies dressed up as policy. That era is ending. Globalisation and digital technology have ripped the veil from governments that believed they could forever control the narrative.
Think of WikiLeaks: millions of cables spilling into the public domain, exposing wars fought in the shadows and allies bought with blood and bribes. Think of Edward Snowden, who revealed that the U.S.—while condemning authoritarian surveillance—was secretly spying on its own people, its allies, and the entire world.
Even weaker regimes are no longer safe. La République du Cameroun once believed it could massacre, burn villages, and erase Ambazonia under the cloak of censorship. Not anymore. A smartphone in Bamenda can now do more damage to Yaoundé’s propaganda machine than a battalion of soldiers. Images of genocide cross oceans in seconds, and the world can no longer say, “We did not know.”
But here lies the brutal truth: the same Western democracies that speak of freedom are the ones exposed as hypocrites.
Humanitarian aid often doubles as a cover for geopolitical influence.
Weapons flow quietly to regimes accused of war crimes.
International law is applied selectively—Russia condemned, Cameroon ignored.
The Biden administration has written its own chapter in this hypocrisy. Under the banner of humanitarian aid and with strong lobbying in Washington, billions were funneled to prop up Paul Biya’s genocidal war against Ambazonia. And while Yaoundé torched villages and executed innocents, Washington went further—weaponizing the 9/11 Patriot Act to jail Ambazonian activists in the United States. In the name of “counterterrorism,” freedom fighters were criminalized, while real terror was subsidized abroad.
This is the age of globalisation: a double-edged sword. It empowers citizens, whistleblowers, and activists to expose lies. But it also lays bare the contradictions of the so-called free world.
And now, a new doctrine emerges on the horizon. Call it the Trump Doctrine, a modern echo of the Monroe Doctrine that once warned Europe to stay out of the Americas. But unlike Monroe’s time, the battlefield is no longer geography—it is information. Trump’s confrontation is not only with rival powers but with the globalist networks, backroom deals, and secret wars that have thrived under the cover of democracy.
Whether one agrees with him or not, his challenge is clear: the age of hidden empires and managed information is collapsing.
The question is no longer whether governments can keep secrets. They cannot. The question is whether they can survive in a world where their citizens—and their enemies—see everything.
In this new order, truth is the ultimate weapon. And it no longer belongs to the state.
The Independentist Editorial Desk
