“West’s ‘rules-based’ lie is exposed: Why Bharat stands to gain from Trumpian disruption”, First Post, January 23, 2026

“For decades, the Western world sold a lie — and a convenient one — about the existence of a “rules-based international order”. It was presented as unbiased, principled and universal: an enlightened, democratic alternative to raw power politics. In reality, it was more of a club, if not a cartel, whose rules were written by the powerful few, enforced selectively, and ignored whenever inconvenient. And like all successful cartels, it endured not because it was fair, but because everyone pretended it was.

That pretence is now collapsing, amidst the disruptions caused by US President Donald Trump.

What makes this moment remarkable is not that the illusion is fading away, but where the reckoning is coming from. The challenge to the Western order is no longer led by rival ideologies or external power centres. Instead, it is emerging from within the West itself…….”

Read full article at firstpost.com