FLASH
Shkruar nga Yasmin Alibhai- Brown
The scandalous behavior of the American president is destroying the facade of the liberal order. But this moment of crisis could be the necessary spark to build a new world, based on cooperation, not domination...
It’s 2026 and we’re all living in “Mafialand.” Donald Trump is acting like Don Corleone in “The Godfather.” He does whatever he wants and expects absolute loyalty. At Davos, he announced the creation of a “New Peace Board” for Gaza – a kind of his own private UN – from which Britain and most European leaders have thankfully stayed away.
But for how long? Tony Blair, morally flexible as ever, is in there, along with other rich and powerful servants, ready to carry out Trump's orders. Among them are the autocratic leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, still under arrest by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
Then there are the despotic and extremely wealthy rulers of Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Harsh and aggressive leaders, eager to curry favor with Trump. The latest plan for Gaza is essentially about economic colonialism and profit.
The peace agreement was never respected. Israel regularly violates it; Palestinians are neither free nor safe in Gaza or the West Bank. Trump’s illegal kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, the former president of Venezuela – a sovereign nation – is being accepted as inevitable or even necessary.
He will continue to behave in an unbridled manner. British political analyst Philippe Legrain has exposed Trump's malicious policies in Europe. "Like a mafia boss, he sees NATO as a network of extortion for protection and Europeans as vassals to be extorted," Legrain wrote.
“Whenever he wants, he can resume his threats against Greenland... Therefore, Europe must reduce its dependence on Trump as soon as possible,” he emphasizes. This seems difficult, given the EU’s submission and praise of the “Capo dei capi,” the boss of bosses in mafia slang.
Corleone destroyed friends and close allies as much as enemies. Trump does this regularly. The relatively stable postwar international order is giving up.
At the Davos Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke aptly about this historic moment. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also warned of the grave dangers of global anarchy fueled by Trump.
"Now the real question is whether the 2020s will be defined by the complete collapse of the already crumbling pillars of the liberal, rules-based order and the atrocities that accompany that destruction, or whether an international coalition of the willing can come together to build a new global framework in its place," he underlines.
In our age of political impotence, these two men stand out. They speak with passion and conviction. We need to hear more such voices. Yet none of this will mean much if, in this moment of reckoning, Western nations – including Israel, plus UN Security Council members Russia and China – are not called to account for ignoring the laws and undermining the institutions that Brown praises.
They have ignored UN resolutions and treaties and questioned the legitimacy of the International Court of Justice. The new world order must be more just and equitable than the dying old order.
And that starts with the courage and moral clarity to refuse the capitulating acceptance that realpolitik requires our governments to turn a blind eye to certain things. Carney has acknowledged that the old way of doing things – politely ignoring violations of laws and codes simply because they were violated by more powerful nations – must end.
"We knew that the history of the rules-based international order was partly false; that the strongest would exclude themselves when it suited them, and that trade rules were applied asymmetrically. We also knew that international law was applied with varying rigor, depending on the identity of the accused or victim," he emphasized in his now-famous speech.
America held the keys, and the West accepted the illusion that the way the world worked was right, just because it was comfortable and stable.
"This bargain no longer works. Today we are in the midst of a disengagement, not a transition," the Canadian prime minister added.
So what comes after the shock and the disconnect? Will the predators of global business be better regulated? Will the hegemonic tech “brothers” retreat from world domination? I don’t think so.
But, perhaps, when "Corleone" and his gang are removed from power, fear will subside and it will be possible to rethink a more orderly and just world.
This marks the end of the “American Century” - something that should have happened long ago. And it places a burden on economically powerful nations - including Japan, China and India - to replace the idea of national dominance with cooperation.
The EU is the most prominent example. Germany, France, Italy and other founding nations have influence, but it is the collective of 27 nations - large, medium and small - that has made the union the second largest economy in the world.
The EU needs to defend liberal democracy more courageously as the far right wins national elections everywhere. But it could be the model for creating a brighter future for all.
What this renewal would look like and who would lead it is another question. But if good people could do it after the catastrophic world wars, surely the “post-mafia” generation can and will do it too. / Prepared by Pamphlet from “The i Paper”
Gjithë media Amerikane e cileson lango gesnjshtar patalogjik narcistik dhe bully dhe ju na thoni që është gangster. Ha ha ha! Gangsteri vertete nuk leh ndryshe ne mengjes e ndryshe ne mbremje por ta numuron ne lule të ballit.