Political analyst Hassan Abu Hanieh said that recent US policies, particularly Washington’s approach toward Venezuela and its expanding posture in the Caribbean, signal a clear transition into a new phase of the international system, one marked by the disintegration of the global order established after the Second World War in 1945 and the emergence of a multipolar system that moves beyond the rules that governed international relations for decades.

Abu Hanieh argued that such a shift would not have been possible without the rise of a figure like Donald Trump, who revived the Monroe Doctrine and entrenched the “America First” approach, with a pronounced focus on the Western Hemisphere at the expense of the United States’ traditional international commitments.

He noted that this orientation was articulated openly by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his Senate confirmation hearing, where he explicitly distanced the current administration from the global order built by its predecessors. Rubio, according to Abu Hanieh, described the rules based international system as no longer viable, arguing that it had instead become a tool used against US interests.

Abu Hanieh quoted Rubio as saying that the world is experiencing the most dangerous period of geopolitical instability faced by any living generation, adding that continuing to uphold an international system built on flawed assumptions is no longer an option. This was a reference to the long held belief that Western liberal foreign policy could replace the pursuit of core national interests, and that all nations would eventually integrate into a Western led democratic order, abandoning national identities in favor of so called global citizenship, an idea Rubio described as a dangerous illusion.

According to Abu Hanieh, this reassessment has been directly reflected in the latest US National Security Strategy, which warned against what it described as the erosion of European cultural identity, affirmed Washington’s willingness to support nationalist parties, and emphasized engagement with Russia on the basis of what it termed strategic stability. The document also made clear that the United States no longer sees itself as responsible for sustaining the entire global order as if it were Atlas.

In the same context, Abu Hanieh predicted an acceleration of major geopolitical shifts in the coming period, including the possibility that China could move more quickly to annex Taiwan without adhering to previously announced timelines. He also anticipated a broader Russian escalation in Ukraine and the consolidation of control over eastern Ukrainian territories.

Abu Hanieh described the events of October 7 as the decisive moment marking the collapse of the old international order and the beginning of the formation of a new global system. He added that what he referred to as a small settler entity calling itself Israel is entering a phase of historical decline, making futile attempts to impose dominance over the Middle East, in a scene reminiscent of the fall of ancient Sparta, at a moment when this project is no longer sustainable.