Ukraine and Gaza Confirm That the Post-War International Order Is Obsolete

The war in Ukraine continues unabated and the international community has failed to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its forced replacement campaign in the West Bank. As such, the limits of international law and the ever-declining influence of the United Nations (UN) are there for all to see. Indeed, we live in extremely dark times, and the need for a new world order architecture beyond the nation-state and capitalism is more urgent than ever before, says political scientist, political economist, author, and journalist C. J. Polychroniou in the interview that follows with the French-Greek independent journalist Alexandra Boutri.

Alexandra Boutri: Let me start by asking you about the Trump-Putin summit which ended without a concrete deal. What’s your take on it? Do you agree with the view that sees a Trump alignment with Putin?

C. J. Polychroniou: Among the major takeaways from the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is that Trump’s image as a dealmaker has suffered yet another massive blow. Of course, we already knew that Trump is the ultimate bullshitter and the slickest con artist in modern political history. His position on the war in Ukraine has changed on numerous occasions, most likely out of frustration for his failure in fulfilling his promise to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, which is now well into its third year. But that’s because he lacks even a rudimentary understanding of how complex of a situation this is since the two sides, i.e., Russia and Ukraine, are diametrically opposed in their positions to end the war. In Alaska, Trump aligned with Putin by dropping his demand for a ceasefire in favor of pursuing a full peace accord. Russia had opposed US and European ceasefire proposals, so Trump’s shift to a peace deal is undoubtedly a win for Putin. In addition, no sanctions against Russia were announced, so the Alaska summit turns out to be a double win for Putin. But that’s not the end of the story. With the Trump-Putin summit, the U.S. has shown Europeans that it and it alone decides how to deal with Russia in ending the Ukraine war. Thus, we may speak of a third major win for Putin.

Alexandra Boutri: What does the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine tells us about the current world order architecture?

C. J. Polychroniou: One may have thought that such aggression would be a thing of the past in the twentieth-first century, but the reality is that not much has changed in state behavior since the end of the Second World War. International law in establishing standards of behavior remains a weak law and collective security as a mechanism to prevent or resolve conflicts is something of an illusion. Ukraine and Gaza are striking examples of the failure of the current world order architecture.

Alexandra Boutri: Is there any justification for Putin’s war?

C. J. Polychroniou: The Russian position on Ukraine had been quite explicit for quite some time before the invasion. Putin had warned NATO against deploying its troops and weapons to Ukraine, saying that this represented a red line for Russia. But the U.S. was obsessed with bringing Ukraine into NATO and the Biden administration backed Ukraine for NATO membership just as strongly as the George W. Bush administration had done in 2008. Obama, of course, was also open to accepting Ukraine as a NATO member and had in fact urged NATO to increase its military support for Ukraine. The point here is that the West in general was always in favor of NATO’s eastward expansion since the end of the Cold War and did not take into account Russia’s security concerns. The US that is principally responsible for the Ukraine crisis although Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is unmistakably a criminal act of aggression.

Alexandra Boutri: Let’s move on to Israel’s barbaric assault on Gaza. What are the cold facts behind this terrible drama?

C. J. Polychroniou; The cold facts? That will require an extensive discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is impossible to offer here. The “terrible drama” doesn’t start with the atrocious attack and kidnapping by Hamas-led forces in Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel has a long history of occupation and dispossession, coupled with systematic violation of human rights against Palestinians. Anyone denying this “cold fact” is either ignorant of history or simply an Israeli propagandist. Nonetheless, it was the criminal and shockingly stupid cross-border raids by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on October 7, 2023, that led to Israeli vows of greater retaliation, which eventually took the form of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Another “cold fact” behind this terrible drama is that the Israeli occupation, dispossession, and killing of Palestinians would not have been possible without the backing and support of the US and major European powers. The western governments are fully complicit in Israeli crimes and the genocide taking place in Gaza today. Yet another “cold fact” is that the holy mantra of the “two-state solution,” cited for many years now by western powers and even so-called progressives in the western world as the only way forward for the Palestinian question, is a delusion as it has ignored the facts on the ground. Israel has always been bent on the creation of an ethnic state and a "greater Israel" and thus would never accept a Palestinian state near its own borders.

Alexandra Boutri: You described the Hamas-led attacks of October 7 not only as criminal but also utterly stupid. Yet, there are many siding with the Palestinian cause who feel that the case for Palestinian self-determination stands now a better chance precisely because of the global condemnation against Israeli actions in Gaza.

C J. Polychroniou: This is utterly absurd. Complete rubbish, I must say. Palestinians in Gaza are faced with total extinction because of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7. Israel has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians (it’s more likely than not that the actual death toll in Gaza is much higher than what the Gaza health ministry has reported) and the number of injured exceeds 150,000. More carnage is sure to follow with Israel's plan to take control of all of Gaza. And bear in mind that most of Gaza’s infrastructure is totally destroyed as it has experienced one of the most intense bombardments in history. Israel has dropped more than 90,000 tons of bombs on the Gaza Strip, which happens to be one of the most densely populated territories in the world, exceeding World War II bombings in Dresden, Hamburg, and London combined. Indeed, it has been estimated that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is the equivalent of six atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima. How anyone can speak of “progress” on the Palestinian front in the midst of such immense human tragedy is mind-boggling to me. Israel is now more determined than ever before not to co-exist with Palestinians in its midst. You have a neo-Nazi government in power, actually using Nazi-like tactics against Palestinians, while a sizeable majority of Israeli citizens appear to be applauding the government’s campaign to liquidate them because they feel that “there are no innocent civilians” in Gaza. The fact that the western governments not only tolerate but support the actions of a neo-Nazi regime in Israel speaks volumes of their moral depravity. But, yes, Hamas’ actions have been not only criminal but utterly destructive for the Palestinian cause.

Alexandra Boutri: Under what circumstances can you imagine the restructuring of the current world order architecture and the end of capitalism?

C. J. Polychroniou: Unfortunately, I cannot imagine the restructuring of the world order architecture or the end of capitalism in my own lifetime. Such radical transformations would mandate, first and foremost, the end of the nation-state and the subsequent rise of cosmopolitanism. The driving force behind the formation of the nation-state was capitalism itself, so the two are deeply intertwined even though global capitalism gives the impression that it seeks to transcend the nation-state framework but, in reality, depends on it for its own expansion. Be that as it may, the point is that neither international law nor the UN collective security system work in preventing wars and resolving conflicts. Certain progress in human affairs notwithstanding, we continue to live in a dark and brutal world.