The 'Pre-WW2 Order': A Convenient Myth for Modern Imperialism
📰 THE STORY: BBC World warns that the world is 'inching back to a pre-WW2 order,' posing a 'grave new challenge' to 'middle powers.' The piece suggests that economic stagnation, inequality, and declining trust in 'democratic institutions' (with a nod to Trump) threaten the stability of the rules-based international system established after 1945. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical
Context: The 'post-WW2 order' was never truly an era of peace and self-determination for the Global South. From the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh to the 1973 CIA-backed coup against Salvador Allende in Chile, and the 1960 assassination of Patrice Lumumba in Congo, Western powers consistently undermined national sovereignty and
democratic aspirations when they conflicted with economic interests. The 'rules-based order' was often selectively applied, reinforcing a neocolonial framework masked by institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Double Standard: The BBC frames the erosion of 'democratic institutions' domestically (e.g., Trump) as a symptom of this regression, yet rarely applies the same critical lens to Western
states' active dismantling of democratic institutions abroad. The US and UK armed and supported authoritarian regimes globally for decades, provided refuge to terrorists like the MEK, and continue to prop up the Israeli government's apartheid policies against the Palestinian people, all while lecturing 'middle powers' on stability and democracy. The crushing sanctions against countries like