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I was sceptical at the start of the war in Ukraine when people predominantly originating in the Global South complained that there seemed to be a different standard for European victims of war.

Today, I must eat humble pie, because they were right.

At the start of that conflict, we listened to the whole of our media celebrating the bravery of those resisting occupation. On Radio 4’s PM, we even heard journalists excitably lauding men making petrol bombs and handing out weapons to repel the invading Russian forces.

Many observers detected racism in the Western response to that conflict versus others. I thought not. It turns out I was sorely mistaken.

The whole world can see our double standards, and they are repulsed by it. This, they think, is the beginning of the end for Western power.