When you say “Nothing short of X can get you to Y”, the strong implication is that it’s a safe bet that X will at least not move you away from Y, and sometimes move you toward it. So OK, I’ll rephrase:
The OP suggests that colonization is in fact a proven way to turn at least some poor countries into more productive ones.
Nope. Provide a quote or retract.
What I actually said was that nothing short of colonisation is known to work.
When you say “Nothing short of X can get you to Y”, the strong implication is that it’s a safe bet that X will at least not move you away from Y, and sometimes move you toward it. So OK, I’ll rephrase:
The OP suggests that colonization is in fact a proven way to turn at least some poor countries into more productive ones.