The “Rules-Based International Liberal Order” is a structure that emerged after the Second World War. I can describe this structure as an order shaped by institutions such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and NATO, as well as concepts like liberalism, democracy, market economy, free trade, international law, and norms.<\/p>\n
First, the “Rules-Based International Liberal Order” is indisputably founded on Western civilization. That is, it has a completely Western tradition based on Western law, the European Enlightenment, and liberal democracy. Second, this order is predominantly US-centric. This is because it is a system built, supported, and protected by the military, economic, and political power of the United States. The Western-civilization-based, US-centric, rules-based international liberal order is a paradigm that emerged in the mid-20th century and has shaped world politics.<\/p>\n
Following these definitions, it must be said that this order, however perfect it may seem on paper and however humane and peaceful it may sound, has never truly existed in reality. This is because, first and foremost, this order was not built on international consensus and unity. This so-called liberal international system has always been unipolar (US-centric) and uni-civilizational (Western-centric). Neither multi-polarity, nor multi-civilizationalism, nor multilateralism has ever been at the core of this system.<\/p>\n
A sovereignty crowned by the global imperialism of the United States, the hegemon of the post-World War II era, was established. This sovereignty was exclusionary towards non-Western nations, countries, and civilizations, and was based on unilateralism and Western supremacy. This myth of a rules-based international order, imposed on the entire world, was seen as something universal, absolute, and unchangeable. In reality, this system, which was never fair, constructed a hierarchical social system in the international arena. It served only the interests of the United States and Western countries, which were white and Christian. The US and developed Western nations established a hegemony by repeatedly violating international law with their discriminatory and unjust practices.<\/p>\n
For the US, democracy, one of the pillars of the rules-based international liberal order, has always been a tool. American power has not only cooperated with democracies but has also established relationships with almost all dictatorships, monarchies, and authoritarian regimes in the world (using Western definitions of “authoritarian” and “dictator”). Even today, the largest military bases of American democracy are located in many monarchies and kingdoms. Of course, these countries and their leaders are never referred to as dictators or authoritarians.<\/p>\n
Similarly, it is the American and Western countries that have dealt the biggest blows to the market economy and free trade. American protectionism has always existed throughout history. Americans have never practiced or even imagined completely free trade like the British. Today, the US, considered the pioneer of globalization, has closed its borders with walls while imposing customs tariffs on the whole world. In a world that has experienced many “America-centric” global economic crises, Americans have carried out operations to save their banks and companies with massive state support. The US has condemned nearly 200 countries and 8 billion people to a single currency, a single payment system, and a single reserve currency. It has aggressively imposed Western culture on the non-Western world. Despite calling it liberalism, it has established a monolithic [one-size-fits-all] mechanism in every field.<\/p>\n
In the realm of international law, it has constantly oppressed the non-Western world with its double standards. American power and its European allies have always found themselves justified in intervening anywhere in the world. In the last 25 years, Western military operations have been carried out in many countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran. In doing so, they used democracy and human rights as a pretext. Western countries and Western media outlets have consistently defined non-Western countries as authoritarian and non-Western leaders as dictators. Yet, they have been hypocritical even in this. While constantly labeling the leaders of countries that limit American power, such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as dictators, they have never used such descriptions for the monarchies and authoritarian leaders in the Gulf. On the contrary, they have engaged in military, economic, political, and cultural cooperation with them. Monarchies were declared major non-NATO allies of the US. This is because, in the Western mindset, it did not matter whether a leader was a dictator, a king, or an authoritarian, as long as they protected Western dominance and American interests. What mattered was that everything was for the West, by the West, and according to the West.<\/p>\n
So, let’s examine how the Western-civilization-based, US-centric, rules-based international liberal order operated during the Israel-Iran war. Let’s specifically lay bare the hypocrisy and double standards of the US and Israel on the fronts of international law, values, norms, democracy, and multilateralism.<\/p>\n
Before its attack on Iran, Israel launched an operation against Hamas in Gaza. There, Israel killed more than 64,000 innocent civilians. The majority of these deaths were women and children. More than 162,000 civilians were injured in these attacks. Let it not be thought that the injured merely suffered scratches; tens of thousands of innocent people emerged with their feet and hands severed and their faces disfigured. Gaza became the region with the highest number of child deaths in the world and the place where the most people were left disabled. Everywhere, including schools and mosques, was bombed. Thousands of Palestinians have been and continue to be brutally tortured in Israeli prisons. So, did Israel’s numerous acts of genocide and terrorism have any consequence in the rules-based international liberal order? Of course not. On the contrary, Israel was supported by the founders of the rules-based international liberal order, the US and Europe. For nearly two years, Israel has been carrying out a massacre in Gaza with Western weapons, Western intelligence, and Western money. In a similar situation, the US and Europe decided to impose more than 28,000 sanctions on Russia. An arrest warrant was issued for Russian leader Putin by the International Criminal Court. Russians were excluded from everything from the Olympics to Eurovision. Russian civilization and culture were banned and declared an enemy. During this period, after Gaza, Israel re-occupied Lebanon. Civilians were killed in Lebanon under the pretext of fighting Hezbollah. Citing support for Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel bombed Syria, Iraq, and Iran. With the collapse of state authority in Syria, Israel began to advance there. After occupying Mount Hermon, Israel built new military bases on Syrian territory. Israel destroyed 90% of the Syrian army’s military capacity and completely annihilated the Syrian navy and air fleet. While doing all this, it received the unwavering support of American power. The previous Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, were harbingers of today’s events.<\/p>\n
It is important to remember that Israel has reached this point thanks to the material and moral power of Western civilization. However, just as Israel’s actions up to this point have had no legal basis, it must be said that Israel’s attacks on Iran also have no legal basis. There are no sanctions from the US or Europe against Israel, which has trampled on Western international law and norms. In fact, Israel’s assassination of Iranian military officials was also against international law. The US and Israel even threatened to kill the Iranian leader. As you can see, the thuggery is rampant. The words of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, “I am grateful to Israel for doing our dirty work,” represent top-level support for this lawlessness. The fact that a Western leader, elected to govern the supposed cradle of democracy and human rights, admits to dirty work, sanctifies war, supports the Israeli genocide, and at the same time displays radical hostility towards Russia and Putin, represents a lawless, ambiguous, and double-standard international order.<\/p>\n
Israel bombed a prison in Iran, and the United Nations declared this a violation of international law. Subsequently, the US struck Iran’s nuclear facilities with its most destructive weapons. With this attack, which was contrary to international law and norms, the US endangered the lives and health of the civilian population in Iran while also creating the risk of massive environmental disasters. Imagine if water sources had become contaminated due to a radioactive leak, leading to a water shortage. Yet, when a tiny drone hit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, Europe and the US raised hell. I suppose the nations of the region\u2014Turks, Arabs, and Persians\u2014are not considered important because they are not blond-haired, blue-eyed, and Christian. Furthermore, scientists in Iran, people who contribute to the world’s scientific knowledge, were assassinated along with their families by Israel. In addition, not only are Israel’s nuclear facilities not inspected, but Israel is also not a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.<\/p>\n
The long-standing thesis constantly voiced by the West, the G7, and NATO\u2014that authoritarians and dictators (by Western definition) like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea support each other\u2014has also collapsed. On the contrary, we have seen how aggressive\/destructive democracies unconditionally support each other and kill civilians. Moreover, it has become clear that the Americans and Europeans who supported the return of the Shah in Iran are dreaming of a new monarchy and authoritarianism. This shows us that it makes no difference who is in power in Iran, whether they are a democrat or an autocrat. As long as they are America’s man, listen to the Europeans, and support Israel. In 12 days, Israel killed more than 600 civilians in Iran, injured nearly 5,000, and struck city centers. Israel’s bombing of Iranian state television and the killing of journalists were also contrary to many Western norms and values.<\/p>\n
As can be seen, in the Middle East, Israel was supposedly the Western, democratic, secular model country. Yet, beneath Israel’s secular facade lies its dogmatic theocracy and its corrupt and racist democracy, standing there with all its Western hypocrisy. The attacks by Israel and the US on Iran’s nuclear facilities are an undeniable violation of both the UN Charter and the norms of the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the same time, the Israel-Iran war has shown us once again that no one is untouchable and everyone can be hit. The US’s involvement in the war, with its cautious and calculated steps towards Iran, has also shown that the US is not a hegemonic country that can do whatever it wants.<\/p>\n
The “Rules-Based International Liberal Order” is not just flawed or open to criticism; it is a fiction. It is a completely interest-driven, unipolar, and uni-civilizational hegemonic structure based on power politics.<\/p>\n
Umur Tugay Y\u00fccel is a Political Scientist. He is the author of the book “The Decline of American Power and the Rising Powers (China-Russia-India-Brazil)”. His fields of study are BRICS, Global Politics, and Turkish Foreign Policy. @umur_tugay<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The “Rules-Based International Liberal Order” is a structure that emerged after the Second World War. I can describe this structure as an order shaped by institutions such as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and NATO, as well as concepts like liberalism, democracy, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":11366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[13041,11065,951,1219,3820,288,812,13043,950,13040,1644,13042],"class_list":["post-11365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-double-standards","tag-gaza-genocide","tag-geopolitics","tag-hegemony","tag-international-law","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-liberal-order","tag-middle-east","tag-rules-based-order","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-western-hypocrisy","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\n