A New World Order Dawns after 90-Minute Phone Call*

The U.S. president has ushered in a new era in international politics. The rule of law and allies no longer count. it’s all about strength and spheres of influence now. The Russian dictator’s heart is full.

Snce the end of World War II, the world has rested assured that, as the most economically and militarily powerful nation on Earth, the United States would also safeguard peace in Europe. The U.S. president has erased that assurance with one 90-minute telephone call. Donald Trump’s conversation with the dictator in the Kremlin has not only sealed Ukraine’s fate and handed Russia victory in the largest land war fought in Europe for 80 years. Trump’s behavior and language have also heralded the end of the postwar era of Pax Americana, in which the United States provided security to Europe for decades and established its political influence on the continent. That has all been consigned to history.

The historic significance of this telephone call cannot be overstated. In less than four weeks, Trump’s chaotic stream of consciousness has swept away the rules of the U.S. Constitution and is now tearing into the bedrock of the international rules-based order, all while he and his supporters seem unaware of the consequences.

Trump Casually Legitimizes the Violation of International Law

Trump’s telephone call with Vladimir Putin to discuss Ukraine on the third anniversary of the full-scale war brings his unique talent for wreaking destruction with his words and deeds into particularly sharp focus. First, the president shredded every principle which has governed his country’s dealings with Ukraine and its European allies. By bypassing the parties to the conflict and speaking directly to the aggressor without prior notice, Trump heedlessly legitimized violations of international law, which will only encourage others around the world to follow suit. The painstakingly constructed sanctions regime against Russia was swept away in a single stroke. Isolating Putin internationally was instantly rendered meaningless.

At the tactical level, any planning for negotiations suddenly lay in ruins. Even if a tacit acceptance has emerged in Ukraine itself that it might not regain its occupied regions in the near term, its argument for territorial integrity was the logical cornerstone of any cease-fire. The only thing that was missing was for Trump to legally recognize the annexation of the occupied regions — just as he has renamed the Gulf of Mexico.

The Putative Master Negotiator Reprises His Disastrous Taliban Deal

These so-called negotiations may yet turn in one direction or another. Nevertheless, Trump, the supposed master dealmaker, is effectively reprising the type of agreement he struck with the Taliban in Afghanistan in February 2020, which turned the allied withdrawal into a disaster and left the Afghan people to their fate.

The key subtext for Ukraine and Europe is one of retreat from military responsibility. Although NATO membership has not been a serious talking point for some time, negotiations could provide security guarantees that are not contingent on Ukraine having a formal role in the alliance. Trump refuses to do even this, and is instead passing the burden onto the Europeans, who will find the challenge overwhelming.

Trump’s Farewell to the Rules-Based System of Sovereign Nations

The bigger underlying message is a veritably hellish scenario that, regardless of Putin’s threat, should fill much of the world with horror. It is a renunciation of international rules and laws, and an embrace of a “might makes right” doctrine with a Leviathan sea monster as its figurehead. Its ideological heritage harkens back to the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes’ work bearing the same name. Trump is waving goodbye to a world order of states in which national sovereignty and the right to self-determination are inviolable. His concept of great power politics aligns with Putin’s thinking on spheres of influence. It carves the world up into zones where the rules of strength prevail.

Hobbes wrote, “autoritas, non veritas, facit legem,” i.e., “authority, not truth, makes the law.” Trump has adopted this motto as a prescription for leadership. It also accords with his idea of an illiberal America that only recognizes friends and enemies. In this world, authoritarian decisions and subordination hold sway. This world raises its de facto leader above the law and legislature. If you apply such Darwinist thinking to the international order, it translates into the most powerful actors operating over the heads of others. Trump’s so-called peace talks are straight out of this playbook, and Ukraine is the stage on which the new world order will play out.

*Editor’s note: This article is available in its original language with a paid subscription.