Certainly right about international situations although not so sure about the soot.
My Trangia stove is the one I consider the soot master and my only real complaint about the great little KISS unit.
The local alcohol available here in Australia and likely now too, in New Zealand, soots up the pots and kettle.

My Primus Omnilite Ti seems to produce negligible soot if its primed correctly when cooking with kerosene.
My only real beef with this stove is the amount of alcohol it consumes to prime before turning on the kerosene.
I could likely boil a 450 mug of water for a cup of tea in my Trangia for the same amount of alcohol priming fuel.

The white gas type fuels available locally are the most expensive and around double the price of kerosene, so I don't tend to use it.

Alcohol is the cheapest of all at around $3.30 Au.
Kerosene around $5.00
White gas around $9.00 per litre at the local hardware (Bunnings)

I like that the Omnilight can use canisters should they be available although not always so easy to source.