Ah yes, it's "territories" nowadays. It's completely the same besides the name!
No, they're called "countries" actually. I highly doubt you'd get very far with this "territory" label if you were to bring it up in a discussion with anyone actually from these places.
Wait you're unaware that france has territories???? Please do some reading before doing the lecturing, it might be more pleasant for everyone involved.
I guess you're also completely unaware of the shenanigans they pull to avoid giving independence.
Mais bien sur, but they aren't the places Russia has been trying to gain influence in.
I'm not lecturing about anything, and it seems you're jumping to a whole bunch of unwarranted conclusions here.
It's something else - a new game with different rules. You can decry/condemn it this influence-jockeying all want, but if you can't get past 19th/20th century idioms and imagery about how the world operates, you'll never get anywhere in your analysis.