Yeah everyone was about as advanced at a time. The world is a competition and the west had an edge during a very pivotal moment of rapid technological and scientific advancement. Honestly China had quite an edge for a long time but fumbled it at the wrong moment but caught up pretty quick once they stopped killing everyone. International interference is a given. China messes with US who messes with Russia and China and so on. No one is anyone’s friend here, it’s partnerships of convenance at best. As someone who has lived in undeveloped countries it’s not just that causing the problems, there’s a lot of internal and regional nonsense as well. The potential for development is crazy but everyone is just out for themselves. Politicians from local areas all the way up to the president couldn’t give two shits about their country, they just want to get their money and get a house in Europe.