The Mask Falls: The "Rules-Based Order" Confessed as a Colonialist Lie

“If you are not at the table, you're on the menu,” said Mark Carney at his Davos Speech. The recent gathering at the World Economic Forum 2026 in Davos has once again laid bare the hollow foundations of the so-called “rules-based international order”—a construct fabricated by the colonial powers to perpetuate their dominance over the weak, particularly the Muslim Ummah.

In the Davos World Economic Forum 2026, we witnessed the spectacle of European leaders wailing like children because the American master—manifested in the arrogance of Donald Trump—has decided to treat them as he treats the rest of the world. Trump’s actions regarding Greenland, treating a sovereign territory as mere real estate to be annexed for resource extraction and military dominance, is not an aberration of the Capitalist ideology; it is its purest application. It is the strong eating the weak.

Yet, the most damning admission came not from Trump, but from the darlings of the liberal order—Mark Carney, the former Bank of England governor and a pillar of the Western financial order. Mark Carney, speaking with pain, declared that the "Rules-Based Order" was a "useful fiction”—a convenient lie sustained by the benefits of American hegemony. He confessed, with a cold tongue, that they “knew that international law applied with varying rigor depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.”

Mark Carney admits that this system was a “bargain” that provided “goods” for the West: open sea lanes for their corporations and security for their banks. It was never about justice; it was about the dominance of the Capitalist creed. Now, he says, “this bargain no longer works.”

But why does Carney declare that “this bargain no longer works”? Is it because of its inherent injustice? Because it has empowered the few to subjugate the many? Is it because their conscience has awakened? Is it because they suddenly care for the blood spilled in Gaza, Kashmir, or Idlib? No, indeed, no! It falters now only because it no longer safeguards “their” privileges. The strongest among them—America under Trump—seeks to dominate even its erstwhile accomplices. This is the true face of the Western order: a tool of exploitation, invoked selectively to maintain control.

This “International Law” originates from the Treaty of Westphalia—a treaty among the Christian nations to fight Islam that became the basis of bloody Crusades and was weaponized against the Ottoman Caliphate, the only force that stood as a shield for the Muslims. Since the destruction of the Khilafah (Caliphate), this law has been the primary tool to shackle the rise of Islam. They invoke "sovereignty" when it suits them, and they invoke “humanitarian intervention” when they wish to invade our lands and steal our resources. The “War on Terror” was the ultimate manifestation of this hypocrisy—a crusade cloaked in legal jargon, designed solely to prevent the return of Islam as a state and a system of life.

As imperialism by the European nations shed its overt colonial garb in the 20th century, the United States erected a “New World Order” on the same anti-Islamic foundations. Institutions like the United Nations, the IMF, and the World Bank became instruments to curtail the resurgence of Islam, control vital resources, and suppress any challenge to Western supremacy.

International law was brandished as a moral shield only when assaulting Muslim nations: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria—all ravaged under pretexts of “human rights,” “democracy,” or the fabricated “War on Terror.” Yet, when the Jewish entity does genocide in Palestine and when India blatantly kills in Kashmir, or when America drones kill innocents in Yemen and Somalia, the same law falls silent. The West hides behind this "figurative moral bogey" as their own hypocrisy now unmasks.

The rhetoric of “War on Terror” was never about security; it was a crusade in modern guise, targeting Islam's revival. They invoked international norms to justify invasions, sanctions, and puppet regimes, all while plundering oil, minerals, and the dignity of the Ummah. Now, as fractures appear in their alliance—with Trump eyeing Greenland and Europe crying foul—their myth crumbles. Mark Carney's admission in Davos is a divine sign: Allah (swt) exposes the plots of the disbelievers through their own tongues.

O People of Power and Influence!

The Western narrative has collapsed. The idols of “Democracy” and “International Law” are crumbling, smashed by the very hands that built them. They admit it is a fiction. They admit it is a tool of control. Why, then, do our rulers still rush to their summits? Why do our scholars still seek justice in their courts? Why do we still seek protection in a system designed to destroy us?

How long will you deceive yourselves? The West is in a state of rupture. Their "camp" is divided, exposing the fragility of an ideology based on utilitarian benefit rather than truth (Haqq).

The alternative is not to patch up this dying order, nor to seek a “fairer” seat at their table of gambling. The alternative is the system that does not discriminate between the strong and the weak, or the rich and the poor. The alternative is the System of the Creator—the Khilafah on the Method of the Prophethood. It is a system where Shariah Law is not a “useful fiction” for the hegemon, but a Divine Revelation applied to all. The time has come to reject the hallucinations of the West and their broken laws. The dawn of the Truth is approaching, and the falsehood of their “order” is vanishing, for falsehood is ever bound to vanish.

[وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا] “Say, 'The Truth has arrived, and Falsehood perished; for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish'” [Surah Al-Isra: 81].

O Armies of the Muslim Lands! Shake off the chains of your traitor rulers, who serve as gatekeepers for this unjust order. This Ummah is waiting for your granting of Nussrah to reestablish the Khilafah, and let the world witness the true rules-based order—one governed by the Book of Allah (swt) and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw). Allah (swt) says:

[وَلَن تَرْضَى عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلاَ النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ قُلْ إِنَّ هُدَى اللّهِ هُوَ الْهُدَى وَلَئِنِ اتَّبَعْتَ أَهْوَاءهُم بَعْدَ الَّذِي جَاءكَ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ مَا لَكَ مِنَ اللّهِ مِن وَلِيٍّ وَلاَ نَصِيرٍ]

“And never will the Jews or the Christians approve of you until you follow their religion. Say, 'Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance.' If you were to follow their desires after what has come to you of knowledge, you would have against Allah no protector or helper” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 120].

The time for illusions has passed. The West’s narrative stands exposed. Join the call of Hizb ut Tahrir, the vanguard carrying the da'wah to revive the Ummah and dismantle the structures of oppression.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Mohamad Younis – Al-Hind