Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Is The International Order Unravelling?

Wikipedia

Mark Urban, BBC: What lies in store for the world in 2017?

What lies in store for the world next year? Some telling recent events suggest it could be very difficult for Western countries.

While at the end of 2015 I looked at the way nationalistic populism would make the job of diplomats harder in 2016, now there are signs that the West's ability even to set the rules of the international game is beginning to unravel.

"The post-Cold War era of Western-led globalisation, US predominance and the comfortable ascendancy of liberal international values is over," says Sir Simon Fraser, head of the UK Diplomatic Service 2010-2015.

"The current stresses on the international order that we've known since the end of the Second World War", argues US General Stanley McChrystal, who commanded Nato forces in Afghanistan 2009-2010, "reflect a decentralization or 'atomization' of power on multiple levels".

Among key events in the latter part of 2016:

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The World Order has been unravelling for a long time. But what has accelerated this trend lately is the realisation among many that the promises that were made of a better world have not been realised .... especially in the West. The result has then become predictable .... Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, and the rise of populism in the West. My prediction .... these trend lines are only going to accelerate in 2017, starting with the West looking more inward for its solutions and policies than outwards. And as for the age of massive trade agreements, the power of international legal and political institutions coupled with grand political-military alliances .... I see that coming to an end.

6 comments:

Jay Farquharson said...

LMAO,

Remember "The End of History"?

LMAO, Bush II broke the "Sole Superpower" in Iraq, and Globalization in his Economic Collapse.

LMAO

Jac said...

This kind of situation is not new. It was a little bit like that in the 30's: isolationism, over armament all around the world, economical crisis, arrogant dictatorship vs weak democracy, many "small" wars...and many more. That's a very dark future because embolden dictatorship will never be stopped and will go to war. China is the real archetype of that.

Jay Farquharson said...

LMAO,

China is the US,

The US is now AustroHungary.

LMAO

Anonymous said...

@Jay Farquharson

Exactly what I was thinking for the past few years.
World economy crippled by systemic financial misallocations (greed), technological advances AND societal collapses. Industrial overcapacity. Something got to give.
US rose from junior industrialist/mercantilist competitor of British Empire to top dog in a amicable way (between anglos).
Old continental powers (UK, France and an eager/energetic Germany) exhausted themselves in 2 world wars.

Now it seems that it's US in this position of being overstretched. China is evidently the rising power. Pivot to Asia was already about that.

That's why I see WW3 in the near future with China at the center of it.

Russia is only a sideshow, West was thinking they could subvert it easily and bring it into the fold with the usual "democratization" tools (color revolutions, EU/NATO expansion, etc).

Now the West has to gain Russia's cooperation in a more friendly way.

James said...

WNU,
I was looking at the header picture and it struck me that the lineup is interesting. Frau Merkel is obviously the center with her outfit (more on that later), but what got me to look closer was who's on her left and who's on her right. As you know where you stand in these photos is no accident and considering who was the host at this shindig makes it that much more interesting.
As for Frau Merkel. I had not realized the East German Women's Olympic Shot putting Team still existed. I really must pay more attention.

Anonymous said...

I'm hoping the us pulls out of the world entirely and the world goes to absolute shit.
Hopefully it is impossible to immigrate to the us as well and since "china is the us", ppl from all over the world can immigrate to china and work in their sweat shops haha....it would be easy to also drop out of a ww3 and let China and whoever else fight it and perhaps groom the populations. The future could be bright if the trump decides to focus domestically as opposed to being obama and giving everyone handjobs (not Israel they get ze middle finger)