Prosperity for All Nations Possible through Int’l Relations Free of US Hegemony: Analyst

The sixth in a series of preliminary meetings of the 2nd International Conference on the Decline of the United States: The Post-American World, was held by the Secretariat of the conference on “the Emergent Multi-polarity and Rise of Non-Western Theories of International Relations.” Dr. Yousef Azizi, foreign policy analyst, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Dr. Azizi quoted John Mearsheimer as saying two years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, in late 1991, two countries, France and England, were really concerned about reunification of Germany, because they didn’t want another powerful country in Europe. Taking that incident as proof, Azizi emphasized that the notion of democracies never fighting each other, and always behaving well and safely, is not true.

He believed it is an ambiguous time in international politics, similar to the 1990s, saying it is difficult for most of the Americans to get used to the idea of no Cold War because, since 1945, Americans have been born into a Cold War culture. “In the 1990s,” Azizi maintained, “the powerful enemy, the Soviet Union, was being beaten, but US military-industrial complex wanted to show that the world was still unsafe. America has more than 800 bases outside the United States, because it wanted to expanded more and more toward Russia's border.”

Now regarding what has happened in the United States, “we see that the generation Z who are born in the 21st century have witnessed the US failure in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the global economy crisis in 2007 and 2009, the rise of Trump and Trumpism, which includes hatred, racism, and radicalism in the western society, and, most importantly, the betrayal by Liberal democrats and their governors in handling their own domestic issues and global crises like the climate change,” he continued.

Azizi believed that we need to have a non-western theory or theories of international relations that can work in a multipolar world. And if we're not prepared for that moment, Western-minded scholars would fill the gap with their ridiculous and shortsighted ideas like what happened during the 1990s.

He referred to the fact that the non-western theories of international relations differ from realism, and believed that the concept of power politics would not change much, and that the primary concepts of all the states is power and security. He said what happened during the 20th and early 21st century is unjust and catastrophic for human beings and hoped that the forthcoming world order would feature the security and prosperity for all nations in the world.

He went on to say that the decline of the United States has already started since the early 21st century when the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans thought that they can project their democracy, ideas, and liberal order to all countries in the world without taking into account these countries’ background, culture, history, beliefs, people, religion, etc. and then they headed into crises including economic crisis.

Azizi asserted that the United States is in decline, “but we shouldn't underestimate that. We need to hold meetings with scholars from Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and the countries affected by US sanctions and discuss these issues further in all aspects and not just economic or security, in order to find more tools to challenge United States’ international order.”

“In terms of military,” he added, “China and Russia can challenge the United States. As regards economy, China can challenge the US, but we still need to establish an independent financial international organization among these countries or even get some European countries on board to challenge the United States’ hegemony in the world. And this is a very strong tool.”

Azizi held that media is also very important, especially the mainstream media. In the United States’ media, they are mostly talking about China-phobia and Russia-phobia. “And we have to find out how to manage it in international politics,” he said.

Dr. Azizi talked about a concept created after the World War II, “Europe's American pacifier,” meaning that America is like a pacifier for European countries and they need America as a potential security force. He believed that the European countries need another independent military force rather than NATO, which is dependent on the United States forces. And the European countries have the potential to be another very strong power in the future new order. But they should free themselves from the American hegemony over their financial and security institutions.

“Economically, China is growing very fast,” Azizi maintained. “It will surpass the United States soon in 2030, and military power of Russia has been one of the most important challenges to the United States. On the other hand, in the Middle East, Iran is one of the most important powerful countries without which no crisis in the region will be solved. So, these countries should sit together and find a way for the future world order.”

Azizi then referred to Professor John Mearsheimer’s three speeches in Yale University on the failure of liberal hegemony and liberal international order. He said over 20 years America has spent more than $10 trillion in Afghanistan and Iraq, but at the end gained nothing.

As regards different ideas and backgrounds, he said liberalism does not respect all, and when it's applied to the international order, it wants to make every state behave as the same and obey their rules in all aspects of human beings’ life such as the economy, politics, culture, media, etc. But they have adopted a double standard policy because we see that these rules do not apply to America and Israel and they can easily dismiss them and justify their position. So, the liberal hegemony is doomed to fail.

“It is very important that we don't fool ourselves when something happens in America,” he added. “Trump went and Biden came, but nothing changed. Countries like Iran, Russia and China should convene and find a kind of long-term comprehensive relation very soon so that they do not let the western countries dominate the international arena again.”

When asked about confrontation with China, Azizi reminded, former US President Carter, told then-president Trump, “During these 40, 50 years of relations between the US and China, we have been in wars all the time, except for two years, and the Chinese have never been in a warm except for two years. That's why they can challenge the United States in every aspect.”

“Obama knew that in dealing with Iran, you cannot get all things on the table at the same time,” Azizi concluded. “You have to go step by step and establish trust between the two countries after 30, 40 years of animosity. But Trump was a businessman and didn’t understand this. He didn't understand Iran’s regional power and how Iranians can manage and overcome sanctions. This is also the case with Joe Biden who wanted to talk to Iran about regional issues very quickly. And this is one of the main barriers to the negotiations. There is a way that we can talk about regional issues with America. But they must guarantee that they're not going to withdraw from JCPOA and put sanctions on us anymore and that we can gain benefits from JCPOA.

The 2nd International Conference on the Decline of the United States: The Post-American World will be held on November 2, 2021, by Imam Hussein Comprehensive University and the Secretariat of the Expediency Discernment Council, in cooperation with the universities and research institutes.

For more information, interested parties may see the conference website at www.usdecline.ir and the virtual pages of the conference secretariat on social media at @usdecline.