Middle East Eye • April 16, 2026 08:18

War on Iran: How the West is shaping a dystopian era

Political Leaning Analysis

Left Center Right

Score: -0.21 • Center / Neutral

Submitted by
Marco Carnelos
on
Wed, 04/15/2026 - 16:11

Rubio speaks openly of revitalising colonialism, as allied states acknowledge the demise of the rules-based world order

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in Washington, DC, on 7 October 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP)
On
Until recently, the EU high representative for foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, owned the record as the western official with the poorest knowledge of the history of World War Two, having had the brazen audacity - or the unforgivable lack of awareness - to claim last year that it was news to her that Russia and China had played a crucial role in its outcome. 

But even those comments paled in comparison to the February speech by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He audaciously told the Munich Security Conference: “For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding - its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.”

He offered no hint as to the enormous costs that the rest of humanity endured for such western colonisation, nor any remorse. 

The speech exuded the usual American exceptionalism, this time smartly concealed behind encouraging statements on the importance of transatlantic relations, sending the psychologically fragile European audience into rapturous applause. 

Rubio then added that the United Nations had shown itself to be “powerless to constrain the nuclear programme of radical Shia clerics in Tehran”. 

For the record, the UN Security Council has never given any mandate to any secretary general who has held that office over decades to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue. 

A UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, had nevertheless performed years of intrusive inspections to verify Iran’s compliance with international conventions on nuclear non-proliferation. Indeed, Iran’s nuclear programme had been effectively constrained by the 2015 deal signed by Tehran and world powers. Trump scrapped the deal three years later, with Rubio’s full-throttled support.

Great-power rivalry

This is just part of the historical and political background relevant to the illegal and unprovoked war that the US and Israel unleashed against Iran on 28 February.

Rubio’s Munich speech was preceded by an important and “heretical” one by the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

The latter tore off the veil of hypocrisy that, for more than three decades, had characterised claims by western leaders about the importance of a so-called rules-based world order. He cited a “rupture” that was ending a pleasant fiction and ushering in the harsh reality of great-power rivalry, where “the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must”. 

In addressing the illegal and unprovoked attack against Iran, western democracies have again displayed all the mistaken double standards and dystopian views that Carney enumerated in his Davos speech

Carney’s speech highlighted how the rules-based order is discarded by western democracies when it becomes inconvenient, while international law is applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of violators and victims.

In other words, it is a scam steeped in double standards, where great powers have shown no remorse for using - in Carney’s words - “economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited”. 

His speech all sounded quite familiar after what had just occurred in Venezuela - and what was to come in Iran. 

Carney urged the so-called middle powers, such as Canada, the EU and Asian countries, to act together, because “if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu” in the emerging global order. Indeed, middle powers are now suffering the main economic consequences of the Iran war, amid the disruption of global energy, food and microchip supplies.

Carney’s speech was tragicomically greeted in Davos by a standing ovation - a dystopian reaction, to say the least, considering that he had just harshly criticised the erroneous and hypocritical policies that the same western elites who applauded him had been advocating for decades.

Cognitive dissonance

Rubio’s speech at Munich, just as tragicomically, was greeted by another standing ovation. This is a political riddle that only psychiatry could explain: those who applauded Carney at Davos are part of the same elite who later did the same for Rubio in Munich, but the two speeches were poles apart.

How can western, and particularly European, cognitive dissonance have reached such peaks? 

Carney and Rubio drew the same conclusions about the end of the current world order, but their diagnoses of the causes were diametrically opposed.

Carney pointed to the hypocrisy and double standards of liberal democracies, which have fatally crippled their legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world; Rubio emphasised ludicrous obscure machinations orchestrated by alleged enemies, where communists, immigrants, Muslims, the Chinese, and so on are arbitrarily lumped together.

Trump's framing of war as Iran's barbarism vs civilised West is a huge lie
Read More »

If the diagnoses of the cause of collapse are this different, so too will be the solutions proposed to restore a minimum of stability to the international system.

In addressing the illegal and unprovoked attack against Iran, western democracies have again displayed all the mistaken double standards and dystopian views that Carney enumerated in his Davos speech.  

On 11 March, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution tabled by Bahrain, which condemned Iran’s regional attacks - while remaining deafeningly silent on the Israeli-US strikes, most of which originated from the same countries that Iran attacked in reprisal. Thirteen out of 15 members countries voted in favour of the resolution, while China and Russia abstained.

One month on, however, a more rational and common-sense approach seems to be advancing. On 7 April, an attempt by Arab countries to get a UN Security Council resolution to authorise military action against Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was vetoed by China and Russia. 

After the 2011 Libya precedent - when another UN resolution for a no-fly zone turned out to be a western fig leaf for all-out war and regime change - Russia and China were not keen to take the same risk again by potentially giving legal cover to the US-Israeli onslaught against Iran.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

War on Iran
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War on Iran: How the West is shaping a dystopian era Submitted by Marco Carnelos on Wed, 04/15/2026 - 16:11 Rubio speaks openly of revitalising colonialism, as allied states acknowledge the demise of the rules-based world order US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as President Donald Trump meets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House in Washington, DC, on 7 October 2025 (Jim Watson/AFP) On Until recently, the EU high representative for foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, owned the record as the western official with the poorest knowledge of the history of World War Two, having had the brazen audacity - or the unforgivable lack of awareness - to claim last year that it was news to her that Russia and China had played a crucial role in its outcome.  But even those comments paled in comparison to the February speech by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He audaciously told the Munich Security Conference: “For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding - its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.” He offered no hint as to the enormous costs that the rest of humanity endured for such western colonisation, nor any remorse.  The speech exuded the usual American exceptionalism, this time smartly concealed behind encouraging statements on the importance of transatlantic relations, sending the psychologically fragile European audience into rapturous applause.  Rubio then added that the United Nations had shown itself to be “powerless to constrain the nuclear programme of radical Shia clerics in Tehran”.  For the record, the UN Security Council has never given any mandate to any secretary general who has held that office over decades to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.  A UN body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, had nevertheless performed years of intrusive inspections to verify Iran’s compliance with international conventions on nuclear non-proliferation. Indeed, Iran’s nuclear programme had been effectively constrained by the 2015 deal signed by Tehran and world powers. Trump scrapped the deal three years later, with Rubio’s full-throttled support. Great-power rivalry This is just part of the historical and political background relevant to the illegal and unprovoked war that the US and Israel unleashed against Iran on 28 February. Rubio’s Munich speech was preceded by an important and “heretical” one by the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, at the World Economic Forum in Davos.  The latter tore off the veil of hypocrisy that, for more than three decades, had characterised claims by western leaders about the importance of a so-called rules-based world order. He cited a “rupture” that was ending a pleasant fiction and ushering in the harsh reality of great-power rivalry, where “the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must”.  In addressing the illegal and unprovoked attack against Iran, western democracies have again displayed all the mistaken double standards and dystopian views that Carney enumerated in his Davos speech Carney’s speech highlighted how the rules-based order is discarded by western democracies when it becomes inconvenient, while international law is applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of violators and victims. In other words, it is a scam steeped in double standards, where great powers have shown no remorse for using - in Carney’s words - “economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited”.  His speech all sounded quite familiar after what had just occurred in Venezuela - and what was to come in Iran.  Carney urged the so-called middle powers, such as Canada, the EU and Asian countries, to act together, because “if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu” in the emerging global order. Indeed, middle powers are now suffering the main economic consequences of the Iran war, amid the disruption of global energy, food and microchip supplies. Carney’s speech was tragicomically greeted in Davos by a standing ovation - a dystopian reaction, to say the least, considering that he had just harshly criticised the erroneous and hypocritical policies that the same western elites who applauded him had been advocating for decades. Cognitive dissonance Rubio’s speech at Munich, just as tragicomically, was greeted by another standing ovation. This is a political riddle that only psychiatry could explain: those who applauded Carney at Davos are part of the same elite who later did the same for Rubio in Munich, but the two speeches were poles apart. How can western, and particularly European, cognitive dissonance have reached such peaks?  Carney and Rubio drew the same conclusions about the end of the current world order, but their diagnoses of the causes were diametrically opposed. Carney pointed to the hypocrisy and double standards of liberal democracies, which have fatally crippled their legitimacy and credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world; Rubio emphasised ludicrous obscure machinations orchestrated by alleged enemies, where communists, immigrants, Muslims, the Chinese, and so on are arbitrarily lumped together. Trump's framing of war as Iran's barbarism vs civilised West is a huge lie Read More » If the diagnoses of the cause of collapse are this different, so too will be the solutions proposed to restore a minimum of stability to the international system. In addressing the illegal and unprovoked attack against Iran, western democracies have again displayed all the mistaken double standards and dystopian views that Carney enumerated in his Davos speech.   On 11 March, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution tabled by Bahrain, which condemned Iran’s regional attacks - while remaining deafeningly silent on the Israeli-US strikes, most of which originated from the same countries that Iran attacked in reprisal. Thirteen out of 15 members countries voted in favour of the resolution, while China and Russia abstained. One month on, however, a more rational and common-sense approach seems to be advancing. On 7 April, an attempt by Arab countries to get a UN Security Council resolution to authorise military action against Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was vetoed by China and Russia.  After the 2011 Libya precedent - when another UN resolution for a no-fly zone turned out to be a western fig leaf for all-out war and regime change - Russia and China were not keen to take the same risk again by potentially giving legal cover to the US-Israeli onslaught against Iran. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. War on Iran Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0

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War on Iran: How the West is shaping a dystopian era