The world is going through a “time of more shocks and fewer shock absorbers” as conflicts escalate and warring parties dismiss the rules that uphold global order, David Miliband has warned.
Speaking to The National’s Editor-in-Chief Mina Al-Oraibi in an interview in Abu Dhabi, the president of the International Rescue Committee and former UK foreign secretary said a “lack of accountability” was helping to fuel a “time of global disorder”.
“Sixty-five conflicts going on around the world at the moment, 65. That's extraordinary,” said Mr Miliband.
“This world, which has more resources to do more good than at any time in human history, is a world that is repeating some of the worst of the old lessons,” he added.
Mr Miliband said some of the most powerful countries were setting a precedent for turmoil by disregarding rules established after the Second World War to uphold global order.
“I think that the biggest rug that's been pulled from the global system is that the most basic rules that were written after 1945 about the territorial integrity of states, about the sanctity of individual life, they're not obeyed.
“And they're not being obeyed from the top of the system by the most powerful countries. And that is an invitation for copycat behaviour,” he said.
The postwar framework he was referring to includes the 1945 UN Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against another country’s territorial integrity or political independence, and the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which set out protections for civilians and others in wartime.
“Those rules that were established after 1945 weren't western rules. They were global rules. And they protected everyone, not just someone. And the fact that parts of the western world are not defending them, but the other parts of the world are also not seeing the danger of repeating history's mistakes, that's my biggest concern,” said Mr Miliband. “We've got to re-establish the foundations of global order.”
Transatlantic rift
One such conflict that has caused global upheaval and had far-reaching consequences is the Iran war.
Mr Miliband said he believed the regional conflict had “bigger ramifications and consequences for transatlantic relations than the Iraq war”.
“The Iran war has brought home to Europeans the danger that exists when a superpower decides to do something on its own and do something which has massive implications for Europe without any engagement with Europe. So that's one dimension in which I think there are ramifications,” he told The National.
The Iran war erupted on February 28 when the US and Israel launched a wave of joint attacks across the country. Iran retaliated by targeting its regional neighbours and blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that accounted for about 20 per cent of all global oil and gas flows. The conflict, now in its ninth month, has caused a global energy crisis.
Mr Miliband also questioned what an agreement to end the fighting could achieve amid continuing negotiations between Washington and Tehran. He said “the so-called deals that are being looked at to pacify the situation will not leave us even back at the status quo ante, never mind resolving the problems that existed on February 28 when this war started”.
“Many foreign ministries around the world have run war games about what would happen if there was an attack on Iran that raised an existential question for the regime. And what transpired in those war games were attacks on neighbours, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz … and that is what has played out,” he added.
“I think that getting out of this mess is going to be a long-term job, not a short-term job.”
