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The international rules-based order, once upheld as a triumph of civilization over brute force, has collapsed with barely a murmur. In its place stands a world dictated by strongmen Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping who make deals as they please, unburdened by law, precedent, or principle.

The idea that nations are bound by treaties and institutions has given way to a simpler truth: power belongs to those willing to wield it. These strongmen do not consult history; they rewrite it. The rest of us must either reconcile ourselves to this or learn how to resist it.

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The age of legal frameworks and diplomatic norms has been eclipsed by one of transactional politics, where force, wealth, and personal authority set the terms. The strongmen cut deals, redraw maps, and discard rules, while those clinging to past illusions are left behind.

To grasp this shift is to understand that the international order was not dismantled but abandoned left to wither by those who found it inconvenient. We now inhabit a world where strength, not consensus, determines outcomes. The only question is how we choose to navigate it.