Other concurred: the rules-based international order led by America “is over,” argued New York Times columnist David French. Mythologies about the Liberal International Order, Past and PresentThe first flawed assumption about the old liberal international order is that it existed in the first place. But in the crisis over Greenland, at least, imperial annexation lost out, and the rules-based liberal international order prevailed. If America Quits the International Order, Others Will Not FollowThe third flawed assumption about the international order is that it relies entirely on the United States today. And therefore, a fourth and final flawed assumption about the death of the international rules-based order must be interrogated: America’s current retreat from the rule-based international order is neither inevitable nor the consequence of innate structural forces in the global balance of power.

Source: International New York Times January 30, 2026 20:23 UTC