An article by Danny Haiphong: How U.S. hegemony reached its limits in 2023

U.S. political leaders often hype the "rules-based international order" as the pinnacle of global "democracy." However, the "rules-based order" exercised by the U.S. is predicated not on rules or order but rather on the domination of a single state over the interests of the rest. In 2023, this particular form of global leadership (or misleadership) has run up against profound and irreversible limitations.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the conflict in Ukraine. U.S. military strategists and political officials entered 2023 optimistic about Ukraine's chances of defeating Russia militarily with the infusion of large sums of aid from NATO. Optimism quickly turned into its opposite as the year wore on. U.S. and Western mainstream media now openly admit that Ukraine's hyped counteroffensive failed to achieve any of its objectives and led to massive losses in human and military resources. Aid to Ukraine has since been scaled down as Kyiv's U.S. and NATO backers manage growing political divisions over the best way forward in a losing war.

The U.S. and its NATO counterparts gambled on the hope that a combination of economic sanctions and WWI-style warfare would weaken the Russian government and cause the collapse of Vladimir Putin's leadership. The opposite has occurred. Russia reoriented its economy to the Global South, strengthening ties with the emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Russia prioritized a war of attrition to limit casualties while using its military industrial capacity to gradually grind down Ukraine's army. Far from destroying Russia, the conflict in Ukraine has handed the U.S. a historic setback to its hegemonic aims.

On October 7, 2023, the U.S. was confronted with another massive challenge to the stability of its "rules-based" order when the conflict between Palestine and Israel entered a new phase. Israel's response to the Hamas-led military raid has been internationally recognized as disproportionate and brutal, with many credible observers describing the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as genocide. While China and Russia have worked diligently in the UN Security Council to answer the worldwide call for a humanitarian ceasefire, the U.S. has either vetoed, voted against or abstained any resolution for a ceasefire or humanitarian aid in favor of Gaza.

Furthermore, U.S. President Joe Biden has provided unconditional military and diplomatic aid to Israel despite the role such aid has played in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians and the displacement of at least 2 million more. U.S. policy toward the Israel-Palestine conflict has caused enormous damage to the legitimacy of Biden's leadership. Public opinion toward the administration has reached a historic low and prominent party leaders are seeking possible alternatives. U.S.'s support in Israel's activities in Gaza has also raised the specter of a broader war involving neighboring states and political forces in West Asia.

The improper diplomacy in dealing with conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the domestic economic turmoil, which has brought huge pressure on Biden administration, have additionally forced the United States to rebalance its relations with China. In the last six months of 2023, high-level U.S. officials from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have made visits to Beijing in the lead-up to the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden this past November. These meetings have reduced tensions between the two countries on the surface but have not produced significant policy change from the U.S. side. Washington's overall foreign policy of containment remains in the form of aggressive maneuvers in the South China Sea as well as ongoing economic sanctions on key sectors of China's economy.

The Biden administration's contradictory policy toward China is a stark reflection of the limits of U.S. hegemony. China spent 2023 moving toward its overall goal of sustainable economic growth, peaceful development, and integration within a multipolar global framework. For example, while the U.S. neglected the Middle East for "Great Power competition" in the wake of its defeat in Afghanistan, China helped negotiate peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Thus, the rigid limitations of U.S. hegemony have opened up opportunities for the advance of multipolarity. It is imperative that U.S.-inflamed conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere come to an end in 2024 so that the benefits of a more democratic world order are felt farther and wider.