Not letting others govern themselves has largely been the problem. If my country had been fucked around by foreign empires for several hundred years rather than

Not letting others govern themselves has largely been the problem. If my country had been fucked around by foreign empires for several hundred years rather than being the one doing the fucking, I'd probably trust my local witch more than outside doctors too. Also, the distance between the groups you are treating as some sort of homogeneous lump is 4000 miles, or about the same as Washington State to Northern Japan.