The white man's burden is becoming heavier by the day.

Kipling apparently wrote the White Man's Burden on the US colonization of the Philippines. That burden has just got heavier. Couple of days back President Duterte of Philippines announced "separation" from the US, in Beijing, after being snubbed by Obama in Laos recently. As Mayor of Davao he stopped American forces exercising in the city. "I don't want American soldiers in my city," he told Davao City Council. "Because of their arrogance and pretended superiority, the Americans invaded Iraq to kill Saddam Hussein but ended up destroying the country. We don't want that to happen to us." In a survey by Pew Research last year, the US enjoyed the highest popularity rating in the Philippines, at 92%, closely followed by its popularity in African countries. The Africans are also not playing ball. On 18 October Africa nations blocked WTO negotiations on digital trade tabled by the US, Europe, Canada and others. The list of US demands included "enabling cross-border data flows", promoting a free and open internet" and "barring forced technology transfers". Technology transfer to China is fine because it is huge market but not to African countries, because they are poor. By "prohibiting digital customs duties" the US is demanding that its companies be allowed to earn money in Africa without paying taxes, which will presumably be paid in the US. This is the old colonial mindset of looting resources from Africa at dirt cheap rates and selling finished products at exorbitant prices. By "preventing localization barriers" the US means, in its own words, "companies and digital entrepreneurs relying on cloud computing and delivering internet-based products and services should not need to build physical infrastructure and expensive data centres in every country they seek to serve". Which means no new jobs will be created in African countries. Finally, "protecting critical source codes" would allow the US to spy on African leaders, as it has been spying on world leaders for years, without them being able to do anything about it. South Africa has just announced that it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, an archetypal 'kangaroo court', which only condemns Africans, while mass murderers and war criminals, like Tony Blair, David Cameron and Barack Obama walk around free. Apparently, the court is trying to save poor Africans from their leaders. But who is to save them from the depredations of the white man? Not just leaders, even ordinary US citizens may not be prosecuted for killings abroad. Human beings have a tendency to rebel. The US better adjust.