In the years 1969-1975, I was a lecturer of International Relations (IR) at the Hebrew University. The IR bible at the time was Hans Morgenthau’s Politics Among Nations, first published in 1949. The post-World War II world order, of which the US was the main architect and one of its most ardent leaders, was at its peak.
At the center of this new world order stood the UN, located in New York. The system was designed to foster international peace and cooperation; it embraced a host of international institutions engaged in multiple fields, including international cooperation, conflict resolution, and international justice.
The NATO military alliance was established under US leadership in 1949 to defend Western democracies from the communist danger (i.e., the Soviet Union), and was another element of this system. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, numerous freed Eastern European states joined NATO, and the EU – another pillar in the system.
When one observes the current world order (or disorder), one cannot help but reach the conclusion that the previous world order, of which I had taught with glee 50 years ago, is rapidly falling apart, though its remains are still evident.
At the end of 2021, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel-Aviv University published a paper about the international challenges facing Israel’s decision makers in approaching 2022.
The results of the Corona pandemic were described as still being at the center of world concerns.
Joe Biden was reaching the end of his first year as President and was still well in control. In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu was head of the opposition, arguing as Donald Trump had done in the US in 2020, that he had been deceitfully denied remaining in power, while Naftali Bennett was the Prime Minister of a promising government of change. Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine.
No one even imagined that what was to befall Israel on October 7, 2023, at the hands of Hamas, as a proxy of Iran, was even vaguely possible.
Four years after the INSS paper was published, the reality seems to have turned topsy-turvy. What is most surprising about what has happened (and is still happening) is that it is the leader of the state that had brought the post-WWII international order into being, who is among the main perpetrators of this upheaval of devastation: US President Donald J. Trump.
During the first year of Trump’s second presidency, he has undermined World Trade Organization free-trade principles. He has more or less done away with the foreign aid program of the US, which had supported economic development and democracy in developing countries with vast sums of money.
He is constantly bad-mouthing Europe for allegedly failing to stand up for its security, economic steadfastness, and culture, to the point of placing the future of NATO in question, and questioning the fortitude of the EU. He is actively supporting the American fossil fuel industries while opposing international moves to confront global warming.
Trump’s decision to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to the US to stand trial for cocaine-trafficking, and partnering with “cartels designated as terrorist groups”, is another destructive move. The US, under Trump’s leadership, has acted in this case in total breach of international law, even if Maduro will be found guilty of all the counts.
True, the way the old international system has been functioning, it would have been impossible to bring Maduro’s presidency to an end by any other means than those used by Trump. And let us not forget that Maduro remained in power after the last presidential elections in Venezuela held in July 2024, which were marred by irregularities, and according to international observers, were apparently won by Edmundo González, who ran against Maduro, but was prevented from claiming his victory. Maduro is also accused of corruption and of ruining the Venezuelan economy.
However, Trump cannot proclaim complete innocence in this case, since economic interests and considerations, some national and others private, primarily concerning the Venezuelan oil wealth, were also factors in his move.
Trump may act to take Greenland
Now there is concern that Trump will try to act by devious means against other territorial targets, such as Greenland. In a press conference last Friday, Trump stated that: "We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not. Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor".
The president has repeatedly insinuated that he wants to take over Greenland, which is an autonomous territory under Denmark, either by purchasing it or forcefully. Trump keeps claiming that Greenland is a matter of national security, and all this despite fierce opposition from Greenland itself, Denmark, and various European states, not directly involved.
Greenland has a population of less than 60,000, the size of its territory is 2,166,000 square km (about one hundredth of Israel's sovereign territory), and it is rich in minerals.
Now, if it were only Trump running or threatening to run amok, while deliberately ignoring the still lingering institutions, traditions, and laws – Dayenu. But we are also talking of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and President Xi Jinping of China, who were never great fans of the post-WWII system, and the changes it introduced.
Russia and China were the main founders in 2001 of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose membership includes, in addition to China and Russia, also Belarus, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
In a recent high-level SCO meeting in Tianjin, current trends in the global economy and further ways to strengthen the economic dimension of the SCO's activities were discussed, as well as the improvement of practical cooperation among its members. Two days after the SCO meeting took place, Putin and Xi Jinping met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Beijing.
A great concern is that the EU, though aware of what is happening, does not appear to be coming up with any constructive proposals of its own, even though numerous recent events appear to pose a direct threat to at least some of its member states, both from the direction of Russia and the US.
As to Israel, Netanyahu is unlikely to clash with Trump over his modus operandi, as long as he supports Israel in its current travails concerning Iran, the Gaza Strip, and Lebanon. Some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners actually support Israel leaving the World Health Organization and ignoring the world's climate change. Alas.
The writer has written journalistic and academic articles, as well as several books, on international relations, Zionism, Israeli politics, and parliamentarism. In the years 1994-2010, she worked in the Knesset Library and the Knesset Research and Information Center.