On Amanpour & Company, PBS gave airtime to Richard Haass — former president of the Council on Foreign Relations — to assure viewers that the “liberal world order” isn’t just alive and well… it’s thriving.
Christiane Amanpour asked:
“The liberal world order that the U.S. built — do you think it’s not working for the U.S.?”
Haass didn’t hesitate:
“I think it’s worked remarkably well. Not perfectly, but remarkably well.”
That’s how he described the last 80 years of U.S.-led global dominance — a stretch of history that includes Korea, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Lebanon, Grenada, Panama, Iraq (twice), Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and now Ukraine. But sure, “remarkably well.”
He continued:
“The last I checked over the last eight decades, the world has avoided direct great power war. That’s pretty uncharacteristic.”
What he means is: the U.S., Russia, and China haven’t gone to war with each other — at least not directly. No WWIII. No nuclear showdown. Just proxy wars, bombings, and regime changes in everyone else’s backyard. It’s been “peace” — for the elites watching from afar. For everyone else? Not so much.
According to Haass:
“The American economy has grown by orders of magnitude. The average family enjoys degrees of wealth that are unprecedented… There’s far more people with a degree of freedom in the world.”
Meanwhile, back in reality, Americans are drowning in debt, working longer hours for less, and watching their freedoms erode online and off.
But don’t worry — he did the math:
“What we spent on it… the return on investment has been remarkable.”
Apparently war is just a line item with great ROI. So are dead soldiers and collapsed countries.
Haass even invoked the Cold War as a golden era:
“We were able to have both guns and butter — and we can have it now.”
Yes, if by “butter” you mean a tank of gas that costs as much as dinner.
So let’s recap:
Endless war? ✅
Soaring spending? ✅
Global instability? ✅
But don’t worry, the liberal world order has “worked remarkably well.”
For them.
It’s worked for the think tank elites, the defense contractors, the unelected diplomats, the media mouthpieces, and the global corporations that profit off war, chaos, and cheap labor.
Not for you.
Not for the soldiers who fought, the families who grieve, the working Americans paying for it, or the countries left in rubble.
And then — with a straight face — Haass added:
“I’m not saying there’s not problems in the United States. God knows there are. But I do not think you can fairly attribute these problems, for the most part, to what it is we’re doing in the world.”
Right. Don’t blame the endless wars.
Don’t blame the trillions spent abroad.
Don’t blame the globalist system that hollowed out American industry, borders, and morale.
Just know it’s worked “remarkably well.”