By Angelo Giuliano
What's really happening in Nepal? The protests that ousted Prime Minister Oli on September 9, 2025, are being sold by Western media as a spontaneous "Gen Z" uprising against corruption, unemployment, and a proposed social media ban. But let's cut through the fog—this is no organic movement. It's a textbook Western-orchestrated color revolution, designed to destabilize Nepal and shift its geopolitical alignment. The evidence is glaring, from a dubious Discord vote to historical precedents of foreign meddling, all pointing to a calculated effort to contain Nepal and derail China's influence.
At the heart of this unrest is a Discord channel called "Youth Against Corruption," operated by Hami Nepal, an NGO that pivoted from earthquake relief to protest leadership. This channel exploded to over 160,000 members, mostly Gen Z, who used it to coordinate demonstrations and, astonishingly, to hold a so-called "vote" to select interim premier Sushila Karki. Let that sink in: a chat app, with a fraction of Nepal's population, decided the leader of a nation of 30 million. This isn't democracy—it's a grotesque mockery of it. The process reeks of manipulation, with the West co-opting Nepal's youth to push a regime-change agenda. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID, notorious for funding color revolutions in places like Serbia and Georgia, are likely lurking behind this digital facade.
Why target Nepal? It's all about location and power. Landlocked between India and China, Nepal is a geopolitical linchpin in South Asia. Despite the chaos, Nepal will always maintain workable ties with its neighbors—it has no choice, given its geography. But the U.S. sees an opportunity to contain Nepal, sow discord, and delay China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which Nepal has embraced for infrastructure and economic growth. The BRI threatens Western dominance in the region, and Washington is pulling out all stops to disrupt it. A pro-Western government in Kathmandu would pivot Nepal away from Beijing, serving U.S. strategic interests.
The U.S.-Nepal State Partnership Program (SPP) is a key piece of this puzzle. Pitched in 2015 and 2017, the SPP aimed to pair Nepal's military with the U.S. National Guard for "security cooperation" and disaster response. On the surface, it sounded benign, but critics warned it could pave the way for a U.S. military presence on Nepali soil, compromising the country's sovereignty and non-aligned stance. In 2022, Nepal rejected the SPP after widespread protests, with many decrying its anti-China undertones. The U.S. didn't take the rejection lightly, and the current unrest suggests they're doubling down through other means—namely, by fueling protests to destabilize the government.
Nepal's history makes it a ripe target for such interference. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nepal hosted CIA-backed Tibetan separatist camps, used to train anti-China guerrillas. These camps, based in Mustang, were eventually dismantled under Chinese pressure, but they highlight Nepal's long-standing vulnerability to foreign agendas. Fast forward to today, and the selection of Sushila Karki as interim premier raises red flags. Karki, a former Chief Justice known for her anti-corruption stance, comes from a family with deep ties to India and a record of criticizing China. Her ascent aligns perfectly with U.S. and Indian interests, which seek to counter Beijing's growing influence in Nepal.
This isn't Nepal's first rodeo with external meddling, and the playbook is familiar. The West has a history of exploiting local grievances—corruption, unemployment, governance issues—to stage "spontaneous" uprisings. We've seen it in Serbia's Bulldozer Revolution, Georgia's Rose Revolution, and Indonesia's 1998 unrest. The formula is simple: fund NGOs, mobilize youth through social media, and push a narrative of democratic reform while installing a pro-Western regime. In Nepal, the Discord vote is just the latest gimmick, a digital sleight-of-hand to mask foreign manipulation. The genuine frustrations of Nepali youth are being hijacked to serve a geopolitical chess game.
So, what's at stake? Nepal's sovereignty and its right to chart its own path. The U.S.-led push isn't about empowering Nepalis—it's about creating chaos to delay BRI projects and weaken China's regional clout. The selection of Karki, with her anti-China leanings, is a clear signal of intent. Will Nepalis see through this digital coup? They must. The alternative is letting a handful of Discord users and their Western backers dictate the future of a nation. Nepal deserves better than that.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Angelo Giuliano:
Opinion | Doha's deceptive strike: Trump's dishonest plot with Israel and Qatar
Opinion | HK's national security measures expose Western hypocrisy
Opinion | Energy, thirst, and tension: How China's Brahmaputra ambitions could lead to conflict?
Opinion | The transatlantic vassalage doctrine: Trump's blueprint for a subjugated Europe
Comment