Israel-US-Iran War: Is world ready to rid itself of biases against Islamic countries?

It is now becoming clearer and clearer that the current world order will not survive the Israel-US-Iran war. The Iranian resistance has been so powerful that it has frightened the West. The first signal of the collapse of the existing world order is the breakdown of the Western alliance.

None of the old allies joined the US-led attack on Iran. The refusal to send naval warships to clear the Strait of Hormuz was just ignored. Some countries plainly rejected President Donald Trump’s appeal, and others opted for politely worded disapproval.

Though the joint statement by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, and Canada seeks to reassure the US of support, it hardly guarantees the action the US seeks. The language is diplomatic and hardly endorses the US approach to the crisis.

Trump wanted to use the issue to involve all the allies in the ongoing war with Iran. However, he failed to make it.

The statement says, “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment ‌of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.

We welcome the International Energy Agency's decision to authorise a ‌coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves. We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with ‌certain producing nations to increase output.”

The “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts” indicates a course that the US wanted to bypass. This is the course of dialogue and negotiations through the UN forum.

“We call on Iran to cease immediately ‌its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

We will also ‌work to provide support for the most affected nations, including through the United Nations and the IFIs (International Financial Institutions),” says the statement.

The statement appears to support the US stand that the Strait of Hormuz must be freed for navigation. However, it stresses the UN’s role and international laws. It also shows that none of the US allies is to obey its dictate.

This is a big change. The allies are not to buy the US narrative on Iran anymore without scrutiny. It shows the collapse of communication among countries that governed the post-Soviet world. The US has been the leader. The recent war has also exposed the lack of coordination between them.

Is this a result of the ultra-nationalism of Trump? No. It is the outcome of the unsustainability of the order that had taken over the world after the disintegration of the USSR. The unbridled ambition of capitalist countries to loot the resources made them insensible to the needs of the larger population of the world.

The US ensured the crippling of the UN because the latter advocated for a just world and tried to address the issues of poor countries, such as hunger, health and a cleaner environment. The cruelty in the US stance and its greed became so prominent that it started to smell foul.

The Iraq War exposed the character of the world order. It was attacked on the false allegation of possession of chemical weapons. It was the war when the destruction of a country was televised as an entertainment movie. Saddam Hussain was prosecuted and hanged before the camera. This was the new world, in which violence was the language of communication. The US withdrawal from the UN affairs has its roots in its self-assumed role as the sole arbiter in the international arena. Trump has only made declarations of the perception his country has constructed about itself. His crude style might have attracted scorn, but it was the best way to project the American desire to rule the planet exclusively.

His slogan, ‘Make America Great Again (MAGA) displays it. He invented a past for America, and that was imperialistic. Declaring Canada as a US province and claiming Greenland as its territory takes America to the era when it annihilated the Red Indians and enslaved blacks.

The desire to recreate a similar era may seem perverse, but it is the dream Trump has been selling. The war with Iran is the expression of the American dream. Israel is only an instrument in the US's hands. We should not buy the narrative that it is Israel that has pushed the US into the war.

Europe's refusal to join the American campaign in the Middle East indicates that it does not see any future in the US’s narrative of MAGA. This is almost a denial of America’s role as a leader. It is the declaration of the end of the unipolar world. Thus, the question that comes to mind is the nature of the multipolar world that is coming.

The Iranian resistance to the combined military might of the Israel-US alliance gives a clue. There should not be any doubt that the China-Russia axis has been behind it. But it was not the only driving force.

Many would like to identify sacrifices made in the name of religion as the main driving force. If it had been the case, the ISIS, the Hamas and the Al- Qaeda would surely have succeeded in their mission.

The Iranian resistance is an expression of nationalism. We must not buy the narrative that religious identity is the only basis of it. This is firmly rooted in its ancient civilization. The Iranian nation has learned many things from modernity. Its level of education and research testifies to it. Its model of governance also displays a modern character.

The world scenario indicates an overwhelming change in the world order. It also demands a change in our perception of the Muslim world. The Islamic countries are bound to assume the role they have been denied for long. Are we ready to rid ourselves of the biases against the Muslim world?

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)