FLASH
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The world is entering an era of brute force...
In a bold statement at the Davos Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said openly what many leaders think but don't say publicly: the rules-based world order, the one the West claims to uphold since World War II, is over.
In recent months, the US, which for decades has been the military and financial foundation of this order, has taken actions that have shocked allies: it has intervened militarily in Venezuela, threatened to invade a European territory, Greenland, and warned of punitive tariffs against any Western ally that opposes it.
Instead of the United Nations, which has been the international institution of global legitimacy since 1945, Donald Trump is pushing forward an alternative structure called the "Peace Board," which many see as a means to replace the current international system with a project personally controlled by him.
Speaking at Davos, Carney acknowledged that, in light of US behavior, particularly with its claims to Greenland, the illusion of world order is over. “ The power of the system comes not from its truth, but from the fact that everyone acts as if it is true. When even one participant stops ‘acting,’ the illusion begins to crumble ,” he said.
He added: “ For years we have participated in rituals and avoided confronting the contradictions between rhetoric and reality. But this compromise no longer works. We are in the midst of a crisis, not a transition .”
Trump, from partner to predator
In his speech the next day, Trump made it clear that the old rules no longer apply to him. He proudly mentioned the operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and mocked Europe as weak and lacking political will. But the most shocking statement was about Greenland: “ We want a piece of ice for the defense of the world. They won’t give it to you. So you have a choice: say ‘yes,’ and we will be very grateful. Or say ‘no,’ and we will remember .”
This mentality violates every notion of sovereignty and international diplomacy. Neither treaties, nor the UN, nor international law are mentioned anymore in Trump’s approach. As one European official put it: “ The US is no longer an ally, it is a predator. ”
The divided and powerless West
Europe's efforts to counter American ambitions in Greenland have been symbolic, with a small number of troops sent to the island facing American anger and immediate threats of trade tariffs.
According to Geoffrey Nice, former prosecutor in the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the end of the post-war world order reflects a long-standing deception: “ For decades we thought that the values and security interests between the US and Europe were the same. But they never were. ”
In practice, the US has withdrawn from international treaties, including the International Criminal Court, which it has used only when it served its own interests (such as the arrest warrant for Putin), but does not recognize its jurisdiction. Even climate and Iran agreements have been abandoned by the US whenever they have not been beneficial.
False order and Western hypocrisy
Criticism of the so-called rules-based order has grown over time, but has reached a peak in light of Western support for Israel despite what many consider a genocidal war in Gaza. Over 71,550 Palestinians have been killed in the past two years, while the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu has been ignored by Western leaders – another indication of the double standard in the application of international law.
“ The idea of a single, equal and fair international order is dead – if it ever really existed ,” said HA Hellyer of the Royal Institute of Defence and Security Studies in London.
At Davos, it became clear that not only has the US changed, but Europe's blind faith in Washington is collapsing. With an American president openly displaying authoritarian tendencies and violating every international norm in the name of "national interest," the world is facing a new era: naked power in the face of simulated order. /Adapted from Al Jazeera
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