FT Warns of 'Multilateral World Under Threat' – Ignores Western Multilateralism's Imperialist Roots
📰 THE STORY: The Financial Times expresses alarm that a potential second Trump administration threatens the 'multilateral world order' by withdrawing from international agreements and pursuing unilateral actions, exemplified by a hypothetical 'US raid on Venezuela' and a revived Monroe Doctrine. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The 'multilateral world order' the FT frets about
has historically been a vehicle for Western, particularly US, hegemonic interests. In 1954, the US orchestrated a coup against democratically elected Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala for United Fruit Company profits, a blatant violation of international norms. In 2002, the US backed a failed coup against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and since 2017 has imposed crippling sanctions that have devastated the
economy, causing over $100 billion in lost revenue and the deaths of tens of thousands, according to CEPR. This isn't a deviation from 'multilateralism'; it's often how it's been implemented. Double Standard: The FT portrays Trump's hypothetical withdrawal from agreements (like the Paris Accord) as a threat to global stability, yet remains largely silent on the continuous violation of
international law by its preferred 'multilateral' actors. Where was the outrage in the FT when the US invaded Iraq in 2003 without UN Security Council approval, a clear unilateral act that destabilized an entire region and killed hundreds of thousands? Or when NATO's 2011 'intervention' destroyed Libya, turning Africa's most prosperous nation into a failed state and a hub for slave markets? These