Xinhua Publishes Freeman’s Critique of the Post World War II “Rules Based Order”

July 22, 2026August 17, 2026 Lawrence Africa, Belt and Road Initiative, China, development, Infrastructure, manufacturing, rules-based order, US

July 22, 2026

Below is my article published by Xinhua news service on July 21, 2026

Column: Those who conjure up so-called “China Squeeze” ignore historical reality

Source: Xinhua-2026-07-21

A train stops at the Nagad railway station along the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway in Djibouti, Sept. 19, 2022. The Chinese-built 752.7-km-long Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway, also known as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, is the first fully electrified trans-boundary railway on the African continent. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

by Lawrence Freeman

A recent article published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) conveniently ignores the historical burden imposed on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) under the United States-led “rules-based order” following World War II.

The paper is riddled with historical distortions in a deliberate attempt to prove the authors’ presumption: China’s exports are responsible for crowding out space for the LMICs to develop their local manufacturing capacity. As a specialist in the political economy of sub-Saharan African nations and China-Africa relations, I can provide some light on this misleading narrative. While it is true that Africa-China trade reached a historically high level of 348 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, with African countries running a trade deficit of 102 billion dollars, the more important question is: how did this imbalance emerge?

Here the historical weakness of the paper under review is revealed. The opening sentence begins with a falsehood: “In the United States, President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs have drawn political force from the view that China’s surplus hollowed out American manufacturing.”

This is completely untrue. The U.S. willfully destroyed its own manufacturing sector beginning in the 1980s, when it adopted the policy of becoming a post-industrial society. The U.S. establishment decided at that time it would move away from being a manufacturing-based industrial society in favor of becoming the center of the financial world, with an expanding service sector, except for the production of armaments.

This was advertised in the Council on Foreign Relations magazine, Foreign Affairs, and implemented by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. At that time, China had no strong manufacturing capability. It neither possessed the ability to challenge the United States nor contributed to the shrinkage of America’s once powerful manufacturing sector.

Let us keep in mind the reality of the world economy: in the 1960s, the United States functioned as the world hegemon, leading the “rules-based order,” with a GDP around 10 times that of China’s. This only started to change in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the reform and opening-up drive led by Deng Xiaoping, which kicked off in China over the next forty years the greatest economic miracle that our planet has seen.

Again, taking Africa as an example, the United States and the West were in total control of the so-called free markets. The United States and the West had total control over the nations of Africa both politically and economically, as they did over much of the developing sector. China did not emerge as a major player in African economies until the 2000s. During the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the United States and the West ruled the financial institutions, including the IMF and World Bank, and they did nothing to build up the manufacturing capability of Africa. This is the truth, and this is egregiously absent from the PIIE report.

During that time there was no leader, except President John F. Kennedy, who was concerned to develop manufacturing capabilities in less-developed countries, especially Africa. What was done by the West, by the U.S., by the “rules-based order” was to extract wealth from African nations. Looting their natural resources, not development. This cannot be blamed on China.

Workers arrange clothes at a textile factory in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, on July 30, 2025. Lesotho is a small southern African country and one of the world’s least developed countries. Its economy is heavily dependent on textile exports. It exports over 50 percent of its garment products to the United States. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen)

Western policy never genuinely aimed to integrate Africa into the global manufacturing supply chain. Consequently, African economies today account for only about 3 percent of globally traded manufactured goods. This outcome is not a result of China crowding out lower-income countries’ industrial space. Rather, it is an uncomfortable reality that the PIIE and its ideologues are unwilling to confront, as acknowledging it would undermine their anti-China narrative, which is precisely why this factor is conspicuously absent from their report.

Africans suffer, actually die, from the lack of electricity, due to the willful decision not to invest in infrastructure by the West. This is what has prevented African nations from developing manufacturing capabilities. The lack of railroads is another element that is holding back the economic growth of African economies. Not China.

The failure to invest in the most critical component of an economy: infrastructure. This is the cause of the economic deficiency of African nations. Without infrastructure, you will not have a manufacturing sector. You will not have an industrialized economy. It is not the result of China squeezing Africa out of the market. The problems we have today in the LMICs, especially in Africa, are a result of willful decisions by the West not to develop these nations. This cannot be covered up by using mathematical formulas or refusing to report on what actually happened to the developing sector during the decades from 1960 through 2000, before China’s economy began to be a serious actor in the world economy.

“When the United States was the world’s economic hegemon after World War II, it created manufacturing and export space for others — first Japan, then the Asian Tigers, and eventually China itself,” claimed the authors in the conclusion part. However, there was never any intention by Western financial institutions to develop manufacturing capacities for low-and middle-income countries, and little to no investment in vital categories of infrastructure, which are necessary to build a robust manufacturing sector.

The most irreconcilable historical reality that the authors failed to address in the narrative accusing China of preventing the development of the LMICs is this: From the 1940s until the year 2000, when China began to emerge as a successful economic power, the Western political-financial oligarchy had dominant control over the world economy. They, not China, failed to promote economic development in the LMICs for six decades.

China, to its credit, has advanced infrastructure development across our planet through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is unarguably the case that in Africa, without the BRI, the conditions of life for the majority of Africans would be much, much worse. To this day, no American president has joined or agreed to participate in the BRI, the largest global infrastructure program the world has ever undertaken.

Editor’s note: Lawrence Freeman is a U.S. political-economic analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over three decades. He is also a geopolitical analyst of U.S.-China relations.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Xinhua News Agency.■

Read below my earlier posts:

Will China’s Global Governance Initiative Replace The West’s Failed “Rules Based Order?”

Rules Based Order in Crisis: Losing Global Domination

Rules Based Order Is Dead, But Trump Didn’t Kill It. Beware of Mark Carney’s Alternative

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

Chinese Pres Xi is Correct: Rules-Based Order Is In Decay, But We Once Looked to the Stars

May 11, 2026May 11, 2026 Lawrence China, creativity, Donald Trump, manufacturing, NASA, rules-based order, space exploration, US public debt, Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who is on an official visit to China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 14, 2026. (China Daily)

May 11, 2026

President Xi Jinping is widely reported to have told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that the international order is crumbling into disarray, during their meeting last month in Beijing. Both leaders have condemned President Trump’s unprovoked war against the nation of Iran and rejected the desperate pleas by President Trump for support of his reckless military actions. Their discussion on April 14, at the Great Hall of the People, acknowledged the conditions of the world are fraught with danger, and pledged increased cooperation between the two nations. Keep in mind that President Trump was to meet President Xi for a summit on March 31, before he postponed it due to his self-imposed quagmire in Iran. That summit has been rescheduled for May 14-15, which appears will occur.

President Xi’s description of the crumbling and disarray of the Western orchestrated rules-based international order goes beyond previous statements by the Chinese President, regarding the failure of Western policies. The Chinese translation of this phrase reveals that President Xi’s remarks were more perceptive and discerning than one might think. The literal translation is an idiom: the rites have crumbled and the music is ruined, which conveys moral decay.

This astute observation is absolutely correct. The decadence of the West, with its moral, cultural, and economic rot is there for all to witness, if they desire. One has to look no further than the contorted responses by western leaders for their involvement with the morally depraved Jeffrey Epstein. Or what passes for political (un)thinking in the United States. It is absolutely clear to any astute and honest thinker that survival of humanity requires an escape from the rules-based morally decayed order to a more advanced set of principles (not rules) guiding relations among nations.

China will undoubtedly be a leading nation in creating a new paradigm. U.S. officials and poorly informed Americans have little to no understanding of China’s history, culture, or the thinking propelling their unparalleled economic growth over the last forty-five years. The U.S. government and its citizens have been conditioned to think of “politics” in terms of what provides immediate gratification in the seconds, hours, or days ahead. By contrast, the Chinese think of what policies today, will result in benefits to society, decades, and centuries into the future. For example, President Trump is obsessed in securing supply chains for critical and rare earth minerals, with China controlling the refinement of 90% of these resources. Should China be accused of nefariously controlling these precious resources needed for computer chips, AI, and military munitions, because they understood their importance a generation before the West? Should we discriminate against China because they are smarter than us?

*Society’s culture should emphasize nurturing a child’s creative potential to discover the laws of the universe. (Courtesy of communityplaythings.com)*

The clearest evidence for the indictment of the crumbling and disarray of the Western orchestrated rules-based order is their lack of vision for the future of humanity. Their gross failure to recognize that human creativity, the uniquely human creative imagination, is the single most powerful resource in our universe. Not money, not power, not military might, not the glitz and glitter of opulent wealth: but the human mind housed inside the human body. A nation should not be governed on a “business model.” It should be led by a statesman, who is guided by a vision for the advancement of humankind.

Thus, the physical development of human beings and the nurturing of their creative powers should become the principle of a new paradigm replacing the morally and culturally doomed rules-based order.

The U.S. Economy Is Bankrupt

The U.S. federal debt has surpassed 100% of GDP, marking a significant fiscal milestone. As of March 31, the debt reached $31.265 trillion, slightly exceeding the GDP of $31.216 trillion. It is now official, the U.S. owes more in federal debt than our GDP, which itself is terribly flawed, because it does not accurately measure the real physical wealth of an economy. We should also acknowledge that total U.S. federal and private debt exceeds $100 trillion, once we include consumer credit debt, mortgage debt, school debt, state debt, and corporate debt. And all of this debt exists within a financial system loaded with two quadrillion dollars of speculative derivatives.

The U.S. economy exists on increasing amounts of debt that will never, ever be repaid. Without this almost tenfold increase of debt during the last quarter of a century, the U.S. economy would not exist in its present state. It would not be able to pursue its goal of dictating policy to the rest of the world as the super hegemon. The U.S. economy exists on a mountains of debt at the expense of an increasing number of Americans struggling to survive.

While all categories of U.S. debt have been growing exponentially, the goods producing sector, i.e., productive component of the U.S. economy, has been shrinking since the end of World War II. Simultaneously, employment has increased in the service sector, which employs five times as many workers. This trajectory, which has existed for generations is destroying the U.S. economy and is one of the primary causes of economic suffering by the vast majority of Americans. Service sector jobs do not produce wealth, they consume wealth

Manufacturing jobs are the most essential category of employment for every economy. The manufacturing sector, which produces the physical wealth of the economy, is the pillar that sustains real economic growth and provides for the material standard of living of citizens. Not only has the U.S. employment in the manufacturing sector collapsed precipitously in this century, from 17.32 million in 2,000 to 12.69 million today, but in the last 16 months, the U.S. has lost upwards of an additional 100,000 manufacturing jobs.

For 100 years, the US led the world in manufacturing. Then, in 2010, China surpassed the U.S. And the lead has kept increasing.

The most resounding indictment confirming the crumbling and disarray of the rules-based order is the failure of the U.S. to continue the cultural and economically uplifting determination to explore space, led by President John Kennedy. While I am happy to see the success of the Artemis 2 mission in April 2026, the last moon landing mission was Apollo 17 in 1972. That was over a half-century ago, and astronauts may not land again on the moon for several more years. During this same period, U.S. culture has suffered greatly, absent a true leader over the last fifty-four years, who would lift the minds of the population upwards towards the stars.

The proposed White House budget for NASA in 2026 represents a 24% cut. This would be the lowest amount of money for NASA since 1961, when President launched his “Man on the Moon” program.

Humankind was created to colonize space, and in the process master the laws of the universe. A robust space program emphasizes the importance of nurturing human creativity, by focusing the minds of our citizens on the discovery of new physical principles, which govern the universe. Our young adults and children have been denied the excitement of watching human beings land on an object in space, 250,000 miles from earth.

The collapse of our space program from over 4% of the U.S. budget to approximately .5%, is criminal, and beyond economic stupidity. It demonstrates the utter lack of any understanding of physical economics. Investments in space explorations upgrade scientific research, and lead to new technologies and materials that propel an economy forward. It is estimated that there was a fourteen cent returned to the economy for every one cent spent on Kennedy’s space program, producing a giant leap in productivity.

President John F Kennedy visits Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Nov. 16, 1963.
(Courtesy of stateline.org)

The source of wealth is the creative human mind. Over thousands of years, humans have contributed to the development of our planet through our creative-noetic intervention into the universe. All so-called natural resources are made useful by human discoveries and deployed to benefit the propagation of the human race. There is no independent source of wealth. New technologies, discoveries, the by-products of space exploration, are the drivers of a successful economy.

Continuous scientific discovery is responsible for producing robust economic growth, unlike stock trading or monetary gains from speculative financial bubbles. By its practice over recent decades, the U.S. and the rules-based order, have condemned themselves to crumbling and disarray, as President Xi has stated.

Read below my earlier posts related to this topic:

Can U.S. Compete With China? Washington Establishment Has Serious Qualms

Why Is US-Africa Policy So Bad? Decline of American Culture!

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica

No Strategy From Pres Trump: We Need A Franklin Roosevelt, Today

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 Lawrence Bretton Woods, development credits, Donald Trump, Franklin Roosevelt, Global South, Iran, regime change, rules-based order, strategy

Please watch our one hour dialogue offering unique analysis and solutions for these tumultuous and dangerous times

April 17, 2026

On April 12th, 2026, the 81st anniversary of the death of President Franklin Roosevelt, we discussed in the dialogue above, the current perilous state of world affairs. Presently, the Western political-financial elite, which sometimes goes by the name of the rules-based international order, is in disarray, collapsing. It is displaying a complete incompetence in dealing with the multiple crises facing civilization.

We should not insult the concept of genuine strategy by using it to describe President Trump’s conduct in his preemptive, unilateral regime change war against Iran that is entering its eighth week. True political strategy comes from a vision of the future, an idea in one’s mind, of how to improve conditions in the world. President Trump’s decisions are made on a day-to-day, sometimes hour to hour, in a haphazard manner, with no uplifting vision for the future of humankind. His lack of strategic thinking is not only endangering the world with the potential for new and expanded wars, it is also causing harm to the citizens of the United States,

Before the United States even entered World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt had developed in his mind a Grand Design for the world following the defeat of the Third Reich. A critical element of his strategy was to provide economic assistance to the less developed nations, to assist them in raising their standard of living. This was to be accomplished through long-term development credits with the creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), known as the World Bank today. President Roosevelt understood correctly that unless conditions of life improved for all people of every nation, we would never achieve lasting peace and security. That is why he made the IBRD the essential feature of his Brenton Woods Conference of July 1944. However, President Roosevelt’s policies, and his vision for the post-war world died with him on April 12th, 1945, even before Brenton Woods agreement was officially enacted. For eighty years, with some notable exceptions, the world has been dominated by the rules based-order with its diseased zero-sum mentality.

Today we have a collapse of the global system, which has ruled the world since the end of World War II. We desperately need a new paradigm to govern relations between nations. A paradigm based on development, which is in the common interest of all nations, as President Xi Jinping has emphasized, all nations have a shared common future. Therefore, it is incumbent on the so called advanced sector nations to align themselves with the needs of the majority of the world that is designated as the Global South. These nations of the Global South represent the majority of the world’s population, occupy the majority of the globe’s land mass, and are endowed with the largest concentration of natural resources and critical and rare earth minerals.

It should be obvious to every leader, that it is in a country’s national self-interest to eradicate poverty in every nation, as President Roosevelt well understood.

Read below my earlier posts on this topic.

Will Africa Nations Replace U.S. Regime Change War vs Iran With New Paradigm For Development?

March 26, 2026March 26, 2026 Lawrence Africa, Donald Trump, Global South, industrtialization, Infrastructure, Iran, poverty, regime change, rules-based order

March 26, 2026

We are now in the fourth week of President Donald Trump’s regime-change war against Iran. There is no country in the world that is benefiting from this preemptive assault on the nation-state of Iran, which includes the potential for an expanding war. It is not in the interest of United States, it is not in the interest of the nations of the Middle East and Gulf, and it is certainly not in the interest of African nations.

No people, no nation, benefit from this neocon policy of military intervention to change and shape weaker governments around the world. In fact, this unnecessary war highlights the failings of the world economy and exposes the weaknesses of the economies of African nations. African nations are now paying more for everything. As I highlighted in the discussion above, the priority, the primary mission for the nations of Africa is: to become industrialized nations. This requires massive investments in infrastructure, in particular the generation of electricity and high-speed rail connectivity. The nations of Africa will always be vulnerable and will always suffer from any disruption in the world economy because their own economies have not been sufficiently developed.

The current Western based rules-based international order, which has dominated the world for four score years with its diseased ideology of zero-sum game winners and losers is collapsing. The focus of the Global South, which Africa is a large component of, should be to create a new political-economic system whose purpose is economic development. This requires, that during this time of extreme crisis, nations should focus on forming alliances with agreement on the critical task of developing their economies. This will require industrialization, massive investments in new infrastructure, and the nurturing of a healthy manufacturing sector that can produce the products needed to raise the standard of living of their people.

Peace through development, which I am advocating, is a more effective and advanced policy than President Trump’s so called peace through strength.

Watch and listen to my unique analysis for Africa in the video above.

Read below, my earlier posts on this topic.

Trump Adopts Neocon Regime Change: Was His MAGA A Hoax?

US-West Rules Based Order In Denial Regarding BRICS & Africa

Energy Poverty Is Killing Africans & Preventing Industrialization

Will China’s Global Governance Initiative Replace The West’s Failed “Rules Based Order?”

January 30, 2026February 1, 2026 Lawrence Belt and Road Initiative, China, creativity, development, Donald Trump, Global Governance Initiative, rules-based order, US, Xi Jinping

Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney is credited with publicly proclaiming the final expiration of the rules-based international order. His so called alternative, wrongly acclaimed by the West, might be called rules-based order with a “democratic face,” since it still adheres to the axioms of the old discredited international system minus President Trump.

Column: While “rules-based order” has failed, China’s GGI provides a new vision

Source: Xinhua-January 30, 2026

*This photo taken on Aug. 12, 2024 shows the Drum Tower seen from the Jingshan Hill on the Beijing Central Axis on a sunny day in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Li Xin)*

Humanity desperately needs, nay, demands a new paradigm for global governance, which prioritizes economic development, free from wars, regime change and dictates, says a U.S. political-economic analyst for Africa.

Below please review my article published by Xinhua. english.news.cn

by Lawrence Freeman

It should be more than obvious by now that “the rules-based international order” created by the West has failed. Its demise, which has been accelerating in recent years, sounded its death knell at last week’s Davos conference.

This year, 2026, will continue to be turbulent and fraught with the peril of more wars. As the death agony of the international order, which has been controlling relations between nations through its military and economic might, unfolds, civilization is given the opportunity to create a new system founded on the principles of economic development.

“The rules-based order” was established under the control of the political-financial elites of the West that dominated the rest of the world for decades. It may appear to some that it was the actions of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump, that caused its demise. However, that would be inaccurate. President Trump may have accelerated the final stage of the collapse of the rules-based order, but it was always doomed to fail because of its underlying diseased ideology.

“RULES-BASED ORDER” WAS DOOMED

The fatal flaw of “the rules-based order” is its axiomatic belief that people and nations are merely manipulated players in a zero-sum game of victims and victors. Contrary to this false belief, our universe is governed by the human species, uniquely endowed with creativity. We were not created to be ruled by the mighty and the powerful, but by the power of reason. We are human beings, not animals to be culled and controlled. We are not fixed in our behavior, nor is the universe in which we exist. The physical world is not a zero-sum game board of winners and losers, but a developing and expanding universe that is continuously transformed through human creative intervention.

With the inevitable demise of “the rules-based order,” what will come next? This is not an academic question to be leisurely pondered. No, this is a call to arms for all of us to act in creating a new “international order” which corresponds to our unique human quality of creativity.

Unlike the oligarchical formation of “the rules-based order” after World War II, when a large number of nations were still under colonial rule, the new international system must represent the interests of the Global South, the majority of the world’s population.

CHINA’S CONTRIBUTION

Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) in his address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on Sept. 1, 2025. He called for a more just and equitable global governance system, echoing the efforts by the developing nations in the 1970s to establish a “New International Economic Order.” Significantly, President Xi introduced a new concept not previously explicitly discussed by world leaders: that the goal of this new governance should be to advance toward a community with a shared future for humanity. This is true because all human beings are universally alike in our most fundamental inborn quality: creative mentation.

This concept represents a fundamental leap in the understanding that all nations have a common self-interest that should guide domestic and foreign policy. As a physical economist, I understand that policy should mean improving the physical standard of living and nurturing the creativity of the population of every nation.

President Xi also said that China is committed to the well-being of all humanity, rejects dividing the world into opposing blocs, and essentially discards outdated notions such as Western centrism.

CHINA’S COMMITMENT

China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI) states unequivocally in the opening sentence of its concept paper: Development is the eternal pursuit of human society. The GDI also emphasizes the eradication of poverty, sustainable development of agriculture and food security, and most importantly, improving industrial production capacity and manufacturing. Economic development is a core pillar of China’s concept of global governance.

There is no clearer demonstration of China’s commitment to the development of all nations than the success of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), introduced by President Xi in the fall of 2013.

In 2025, the BRI achieved new records of economic activity totaling 213.5 billion U.S. dollars, according to a report by the Green Finance and Development Center at Fudan University. It had 128.4 billion dollars in construction contracts, an increase of 81 percent over 2024, and recorded 85.2 billion dollars in investments, an increase of 62 percent. Oil and gas engagements reached 71.5 billion dollars.

Africa was the top region of economic activity for BRI engagement at 61.2 billion dollars, an increase of some 283 percent, with Nigeria at 24.6 billion dollars in construction contracts. Since its inception in 2013, the BRI has had cumulative economic activity of 1.399 trillion dollars in 150 countries around the world, according to the report.

It is indisputable that China, through advancing fundamental principles of economic development, has alleviated the suffering of millions of people in the Global South, where BRI trading partners are concentrated. All Western nations combined have not achieved this level of success in such a short period of time.

Many accept the outlook that we live in a world governed by strength, force and power, according to Stephen Miller, President Trump’s special advisor. That is categorically false. Homo sapiens developed over thousands of years by creative reason, not by force, or survival of the fittest.

Humanity desperately needs, nay, demands a new paradigm for global governance, which prioritizes economic development, free from wars, regime change and dictates. Let the GGI provide the framework for such an enlightened discussion.

Editor’s note: Lawrence Freeman is a U.S. political-economic analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for 35 years.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Xinhua News Agency.■

english.news.cn

Read below my earlier posts on this topic.

Rules Based Order Is Dead, But Trump Didn’t Kill It. Beware of Mark Carney’s Alternative

Rules-Based Order Strategic Mistake to Label China Enemy #1

Rules Based Order in Crisis: Losing Global Domination

Rules Based Order Is Dead, But Trump Didn’t Kill It. Beware of Mark Carney’s Alternative

January 26, 2026January 26, 2026 Lawrence Africa, Davos, development, Donal Trump, Mark Carney, rules-based order, zero-sum world

*Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump at the White House in October 2025 last year. (courtesy of community.triblive.com)*

Below you can watch my freewheeling discussion of the Davos Economic Forum on the Winers Podcast, January 22, 2026

January 26, 2026

In a freewheeling discussion in the podcast video above, you can listen to my analysis of the significance of events that occurred at the Davos World Economic Forum from January 19-23, 2026. Most people do not really understand what took place, which I explain in my video discussion.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a momentous announcement, something I already knew but most people did not. That the rules-based international order was dead. Its demise has been proceeding at an accelerated pace in recent years. The proclaiming of its death was made official in public by Carney at Davos. That is good for the world. However, most people are deceived by the content of Carney’s alternative. He is not proposing that the West give up their belief that economic and military might govern a zero-sum world. Rather Carney is attempting to change it cosmetically. You might call Carney’s proposal for a coalition of middle level countries running the world, the rules-based order with a democratic face. That is, minus the overt ugliness of Donald Trump’s conduct. It is important to understand the rules-based order was in a state of collapse before President Trump took office. The rules-based order was already doomed due to its diseased ideology that power and strength govern civilization, rather than the love and creativity of humankind.

Carney’s new altered international order will do nothing to prevent the ideological motivation for more military conflicts nor improve the quality of life for billions of people. It does not address the urgent need for a new global paradigm of development and a new just economic order dedicated to ending all forms of poverty and hunger. Africa alone has almost five hundred million people living in extreme poverty and six million people without access to electricity. These are the issues that must be addressed by a new international order.

Mark Carney is a member of the political-financial elite, oligarchy if you will, and has already been praised as the spokesman of the West by Jeffrey Sachs, and western media. He has been anointed the new leader for the Liberal Establishment. This will not do. Do not be deceived by Mark Carney’s more friendly manners compared to the odious behavior of President Trump. The world is crying out for real change, not Carney’s con job.

Read below my earlier posts on this topic:

Lawrence Freeman: Why The “Rules-Based International Order” Has Failed and Will Always Fail: The Case of Africa

Rules Based Order in Crisis: Losing Global Domination

Rules-Based Order Strategic Mistake to Label China Enemy #1

Mutual Economic Self Interest, Not War, For Red Sea Access

November 21, 2025November 21, 2025 Lawrence Africa, Assab, colonialism, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, port access, poverty, rules-based order, zero-sum game

Watch my thirty-eight interview with Worku Asfaw, on November 11. 2025.

November 21, 2023

In this penetrating interview, I discuss Ethiopia’s plight to achieve access to a port on the Red Sea, avoiding war at all costs. We must proceed to create a peaceful solution. That requires that African nations do not internalize the dangerous dogma dominating Western thinking that the world is a “zero-sum game.” African nations should not emulate the West’s diseased ideology of the so called “rules-based international order.” Instead, we should elevate our thinking to a higher domain of mutual economic cooperation that benefits all nations. Nations should no longer get trapped into reacting to the past, to colonial legacies, and instead to create a vision for development for 20-40 years into the future. We should recognize that all nations share a common interest, in which nations understand that the “benefit to the other is a benefit to thy self.” This approach focuses on promoting physical economic growth to all the nations in the region, to lift up millions of Africans suffering from poverty. Poverty is the great destabilizer of African nations, which must be eliminated to create conditions for durable peace and stability.

Trump Threatens Nigeria’s Sovereignty With Allegations of Genocide VS Christians

November 10, 2025November 10, 2025 Lawrence Africa, Christians, genocide, Nigeria, poverty, President Trump, rules-based order

On Sunday, November 9, Lawrence Freeman was interviewed by IIiyasu Gadu, on Sunday Politics-Trust TV. Please watch the brief interview above for my unique analysis of President Tramp’s false claim of genocide against Christians in Nigeria.

November 10, 2025

President Trump’s belligerent posture towards Nigeria stems from a combination of motivations. His continuation of President Biden’s world view that is based on the diseased zero-sum mentality of the rules-based international order. And his appeasement to the so called Christian right, which is a large section of his MAGA constituency.

I posted the following tweet on X, Sunday night-Nov 9.

Claim of genocide is deliberately misused for geopolitical reasons-to destabilize nations in Africa. No genocide in Darfur-2004; no genocide in Tigray-2020; no genocide vs Amharas in Ethiopia; no genocide vs Christians in Nigeria; no genocide vs white farmers in South Africa

Advancing Human Life and Creativity: Foundation of Domestic & Foreign Policy

October 31, 2025October 31, 2025 Lawrence Africa, BRICS, creativity, development, Global South, Infrastructure, rules-based order

Watch above, my heard hitting, provocative discussion with Rasheed Muhammad, and learn the secret to all domestic, economic, and foreign policies, which the rules-based international order stubbornly rejects at their own peril, October 16, 2025

October 31, 2025

The planet is undergoing massive change–the political and economic tectonic plates are shifting. As we go through this incredible phase change across our planet, Africa is in a position to help determine its own direction and how it will cooperate with other nations. The western centered rules-based international order is no longer the dominant determinant force in the world. Its power and control are weakening. The emergence of the Global South, which represents the overwhelming majority of the world’s population, resources, and number of nations, is on the rise. In many ways, the leader of the Global South is the BRICS, and China in particular.

This creates an opportunity for Africa to develop its full potential, which will require massive investments in infrastructure, particularly energy and rail. Africa needs at least one thousand gigawatts of additional energy, and an additional 100,000 kilometers of rail lines. Despite what some people think, we will not achieve democracy or so-called good governance, without an improvement in the standard of living of the majority of the population of African nations. This requires an increase in the production of physical goods to satisfy the material needs of a population projected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050. All the hundreds of billions of dollars spent fighting violent extremism has not worked.

President Franklin Roosevelt had intended the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development-the World Bank, to lend capital to the developing sector, to assist in building up their economies. After his death, the Bretton Woods system rejected Roosevelt’s outlook, with the Western financial institutions refusing to provide the necessary credit for economic growth.

Therefore, we need a new paradigm. A paradigm that understands that the most important aspect of our global economy is the improvement in the material standard of living of the world’s population. This will require a new credit system, a new financial architecture dedicated to bringing about economic growth and development. The West has done nothing to reduce the poverty level in the world. China has, by lifting over seven hundred million people out of poverty. Either out of ignorance or intention, the so called advanced sector has allowed world poverty to reach almost seven hundred million people—a crime against humanity. The extreme poverty level in Africa is approaching five hundred million people, which is immoral!

As a result, in our multipolar world, with the emergence of the Global South, we may come into a new phase where we will have two systems operating at the same time. The failed rules-based international order and Bretton Woods will compete against a new system, one based on development and led by the Global South and the BRICS. Andsupported by the majority of nations. During this process, the rules-based international order with its zero-sum ideology has to be weakened to the point that nations will no longer be treated like pawns on a chess board. The ideology of the rule-based international order is extreme. Their belief structure, that only the strongest should dictate policy according to their rules is actually evil. It is against the natural ordering of the world.

The essence of foreign and domestic policy must be the elevation of human life. Human beings are the only species uniquely endowed with the power of creativity. If policies are not promoting the development of the material existence of human beings, which is the prerequisite for the nurturing of his or her creative powers; it is the wrong policy and will fail. It is only the human species bequeathed with the power of the creative imagination that is in harmony with the development of our planet.

Read below, my earlier post. Africa Determining Its Own Future in a New Multipolar World

Rules Based Order in Crisis: Losing Global Domination

May 3, 2025May 3, 2025 Lawrence American System, Anglo-American Establishment, BRICS, China, Global South, physical economy, President Trump, rules-based order, US

On April 24, 2025, I gave a lecture to the Rising Tide Foundation, which one viewer called: a geopolitical masterclass. My presentation ends at minute 42, and is followed by 35 minutes of discussion.

May 3, 2025

The world has irreversibly changed. The Anglo-American Establishment, also known as the rules-based international order, which has ruled the world since the end of World War II with brief exceptions, is in its most severe crisis in four score years. The multi-national world of the Global South, led by China and the expanded BRICS, represent a new dynamic. As you can hear from my lecture and read in my two recent articles below, the West is aware of its failings, noting that China is far ahead of the United States in vital categories physical economy. To challenge China’s economic superiority, the U.S. establishment would have to abandon their predatory financial system and revive the centuries’ old American System of Political Economy. Do the American elites and Presidency even understand the American System, and are they willing to reform their monetarist predatory system? Is President Trump capable of steering such a new direction for the U.S.? Their existential challenge is; can they survive and continue to exert global domination without resorting to war?

Read my earlier posts below: