Munir Ahmed Planet Earth is in the process of a total breakdown in the architecture of international relations. Once they were aimed at bridging the states and civilizations on common spaces and interests. For the last four decades, the world has seen the hegemony of the US right after the disintegration of the USSR. Washington is rapidly losing its global repute and hegemony since after its withdrawal from Afghanistan. It was a big blow to the US hegemony. Seemingly, the other is more recent and that is igniting the Russia-Ukraine conflict to a war. No severe damage to Russia in its war with Ukraine so far despite it all supported by the US-NATO states. Alone the US has fueled about $62 billion in it along with huge war-merchandising by the West. No outcome primarily, and severe destruction in Ukraine and consistently losing its land to the Russian army have made the leading NATO member states to consistently lose their interest in the Ukraine war. They have repeatedly refused the US for engaging their sophisticated weapons, jets and tanks to support Ukraine. Meanwhile, China has joined hands with more firm commitment support to Russia. Consistently losing on Ukraine and the recent developments on geopolitical fronts is panicking the US and its allies. Russia’s rising prestige around the world and the success of their diplomacy is the other reason for the US frustration. Now, many more countries look towards Russia with sympathy and hope as the US hegemony has revealed its impact on different parts of the world, including Europe. The international information field today is in a constant state of excitement because of an increasingly antagonistic confrontation between the US and a small group of countries called the collective West on the one hand, and Russia on the other, which is confidently becoming the world’s moral leader. The whole set of successive news reports testifies to the rejection of US hegemony by the leading players in international politics. On the other hand, the United States regularly bombards the infosphere with information fakes aimed at neutralizing the objective preponderance of world sympathies in favour of Russia. The vast majority of people choose to side with Russia because of its open and resolute defence of traditional values and the idea of a multipolar world. Russia’s confrontation with the US is increasingly taking the form of a spiritual and religious war. The American globalist elite still insists with maniacal tenacity on its world leadership and imposes on the world a set of ideas that, in essence, lead to the spiritual and physical degradation of humanity. It alienates from the USA even those who were once ready to blindly obey it. The vast majority of people choose traditional values, and therefore Russia is objectively seen as an outpost for the preservation of traditional relations between people. And the US has become an object of implacable criticism. Increasingly, we are witnessing when active US interference in national elections around the world in order to promote its proxies fails to bear fruit. Examples abound. The politics and rhetoric of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is one of the clearest examples of this. It should be particularly noted that Russia’s traditional allies in the region south of the Rio Grande have long been Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, which John Bolton, a presidential adviser in the Trump administration, not coincidentally dubbed “the three tyrannies in Latin America”. No one else in Latin America carries that honourable title. Similar processes are taking place in Africa. The New York Times just the other day published a highly unusual article analysing Russian influence in Africa. The mouthpiece of the US liberal establishment is sounding the alarm that the Russians are advancing in Africa and the Western world is falling backwards. From the Central African Republic to Madagascar, from Mali to South Africa, Russia seeks to position itself as a bulwark against the West in Africa. This influence became even more evident to Western governments when 26 of the continent’s 54 countries refused to join the UN vote condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Of course, all this is understood in the United States too. There are serious political thinkers among American politicians and analysts. John Bolton in the Wall Street Journal suggests a strategy to save the US. The cornerstone of this strategy is victory in Ukraine and the collapse of Russia. Here are the three most important elements of Bolton’s strategy. First, Washington and allies must immediately increase defence budgets to Reagan-era levels. Second, America’s collective defence alliances must be improved and expanded. NATO should become a global organisation, inviting Japan, Australia, Israel. Thirdly, after Ukraine wins a military conflict with Russia, the US should seek to divide the Russia-China axis. Well, as for increasing military expenditures and the need for a strategic victory over Russia, Bolton hardly surprised anyone. What is really interesting about his article is a tacit admission that America no longer expects to achieve global dominance. NATO can expand at the expense of countries that are already Anglo-Saxon or satellites of Anglo-Saxons. And that’s it. The end of American hegemony, the end of globalism, is almost a fait accompli. For this “almost” to become “quite” what is missing, however, is the most important detail: the victory of Russia over the Western forces in the Ukrainian theatre of war. When that happens, a new world in which the West is isolated from the rest of humanity will become a reality. Peace is possible – but only peace after victory is needed. Among the countries supporting Russia, this is also well understood. The writer is a freelance journalist and broadcaster, and Director Devcom-Pakistan. He can be reached at [email protected] and tweet@EmmayeSyed