OWe may not know it, because not everyone has died from it yet, but the world is struck by a new humoral disease: multipolar disorder. In 1980, through the American Psychoanalytic Association, the ” bipolar disorder “ was making its appearance. Characterized by alternating manic and depressive episodes, this ” mood disorder “ was diagnosed at the individual level at the very moment when, at the collective level, the bipolarity of the world seemed to be at its peak with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
While “bipolar” was a sign of illness, “multipolar” came to be seen as a symbol of cure. For more than twenty years, international organizations have continually promoted “multipolarity” as a solution to all our “hegemonic” or “bipolar” disorders. Thus, in September 2020, 111 heads of state spoke out at the UN in favor of multilateralism, recognized as “a necessity for a more egalitarian, more resilient and more sustainable world”.
Three years later, the launch of the third Belt and Road Forum for international cooperation takes place on October 17 in Beijing. Golden doors open and, in the foreground, advancing, confident, appears a leader against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on March 17 for war crimes: Vladimir Putin, alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the leaders of twenty-two other countries following suit.
There was a precedent: Xi Jinping had already done war criminal Bashar Al-Assad the honor of receiving him for a state visit a few weeks earlier, thus putting an end (multipolar victory!) to the diplomatic isolation of Damascus – the thousands of Palestinians killed in Syria do not seem to have the same value for Beijing as those killed in Gaza.
Poison and cure
But with the highlighting of Vladimir Putin, the insult made to an institution symbolizing the progress of human rights in the geopolitical sphere, namely the ICC, is this time endorsed by the powers present, the stooge of the China’s contempt for international law.
In an effective scenography, Xi Jinping achieves what decades of postcolonial thinkers have called for: provincialize Europe, de-Westernize the world, destroy the universal. Strangely, it does not appear that the world is better off.
Indeed, the strong warming of the geopolitical climate is leading to the thaw of the old bipolar ice: return of the Taliban in Afghanistan and repeated coups d’état in Africa, return of tensions in Kosovo and the war in Europe with he invasion of Ukraine by Russia, return of the Israel-Palestine conflict with an intensity not seen since 1973, renewed aggression against the Armenians, reinforced nuclearization of North Korea and naval clashes in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines.
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