Kobolds too are now normal citizens and also lizardfolk can be a common occurrence in cities.
Ah, I hadn't even thought about those.
And maybe the recent Mwangi book gave more detail on it, but before that yes, colonialism was solved as the colonial rule was overthrown, but instead of seeking revenge both populations were now living peacefully together, at least according to the initial information I have read + comments from the designers.
No, this isn't correct. Just read the
Lost Omens World Guide. Just because there isn't outright sectarian violence doesn't really mean that they are "peacefully living with each other": Sargavan colonists are protected
under the law from retaliation, which is different from groups just getting along. Similarly there are tensions between the former colonists and the natives due to the rapid change in culture as well as land redistribution going on. While the gazetteer doesn't go into depth on the topic, it does specifically mention these things, which are classic problems of post-colonial states.
This could all change in the new Mwangi book, certainly, but by what they decided to actually talk about in its new entry would seem to hint that things aren't "solved", not by a longshot.
If it weren't for the lich escaping you would be hard pressed to find anything really evil on Golarion anymore.
So in my opinion Paizo went too far in removing potential sources of conflict. Conflict is what drives story.
I mean, there's
plenty of obvious evil on Golarion: Chelliax still exists, Nidal and Geb are still around, the Sodden Lands are still soaked by an evil Kraken, one of the two Runelords that are awake is evil, and Razmiran is going to be around until they finally do something with the evil mage-charlatans.
What the new status quo does is rely less on big, evil monoliths and more on transitional instability. Taldor has a sane Empress, but that doesn't make Taldor
good, nor does it end conflict in the country; it's still got territorial ambitions, it just now has someone who can actually
accomplish them. The people who opposed Eutropia haven't disappeared, nor have the politics of intrigue; it's all still there, but there's just an active force of good in the race rather than being another declining empire.
Similarly, Anastasia in Irrisen is good, but she's also dealing with a society that is entrenched in cruelty for millennia. They outright state that there are a bunch of winter witches who are actively working against her. With those internal conflicts, it's the best time for the Linnorm Kings to strike and attempt to take back some of their lands, something that wasn't an option before.
There's other stuff, too. Opark forming and Belkzan starting to unify against Tar-Baphon present a lot of potential problems for the future beyond the Whispering Tyrant. I guess the Technic League is basically dead, but that is likely to create a big free-for-all warlord conflict in Numeria as Kevoth Kul gets his naughty word back together while other warlords take their shot before he can.
And in the process of doing that also hurt the internal consistency/versimilitude of the setting with their "suddenly everyone likes each other" retcons (Goblins, Kobolds,...).
Why overstate things like this? Just because people allow certain people to exist in society doesn't mean that "everyone likes each other": tolerance doesn't necessarily equate to acceptance.