As the postwar liberal order unravels, new arrangements will be necessary

For The Guardian, I wrote about how the current situations in Ukraine and Gaza are related. How? Trump has been signaling loudly and clearly is that he gladly accepts and even encourages the acquisition of territory by force.

By now, most of the world will have seen the exchange that has heralded the end of the postwar liberal order. But who would have thought that the whole thing would come crashing down with Trump saying these words: “All right, I think we’ve seen enough. What do you think? This is going to be great television. I will say that.”

I’m referring, of course, to the debacle at the Oval Office between two showmen-turned-statesmen, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The meeting began cordially. After the Ukrainian president was challenged for not wearing a suit, the US president said: “I think he’s dressed beautifully.” Trump praised a reporter from One American News for asking an obsequious question (“What gave you the moral courage and conviction to step forward and lead?”) and then, several minutes later, claimed that “I’ve stopped wars. I’ve stopped many wars. My people will tell you. I’ve stopped wars that nobody ever heard about.”

But after JD Vance stepped in to the conversation to lecture Zelenskyy on diplomacy, what began as a mostly convivial meeting quickly turned into an ambush. The US vice-president reprimanded Zelenskyy for not accepting diplomacy as a means to end the war in Ukraine, to which Zelenskyy responded that diplomacy had been tried many times before, but previous agreements had repeatedly been broken by Russia. Vance responded by saying: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.” Then Trump entered the argument.

“You gotta be more thankful,” Trump told Zelenskyy hectoringly. He repeatedly pointed his finger accusingly at the Ukrainian leader as tensions rose between the men in the room. “The problem is I’ve empowered you to be a tough guy, and I don’t think you’d be a tough guy without the United States,” he said. “Once we sign that deal, you’re in a much better position, but you’re not acting at all thankful. And that’s not a nice thing. I’ll be honest. That’s not a nice thing.”

This is Trump’s power politics on full display, a style of domination that demands subservience from every mortal or nation determined by Trump to be of a lesser order. Trump and Vance will tell you that they are only interested in pursuing such high-minded goals as diplomacy, cooperation and negotiation, but their version of these pursuits turns diplomacy into capitulation, cooperation into coercion, and negotiation into surrender…

You can read the rest here.