By Dr. Shazia Anwer Cheema
A continuous Palestinian genocide over the past three years has shaken the foundation of the liberal world order. The loopholes and shortcomings of the post–World War II mechanisms, which were considered ultimate and complete, have exposed its Anglo-Saxon orientation and has uncovered the fallacy behind the façade of the global world order, neo-liberal ideals, democratic norms and the fictitious claim of a greater good for humanity.
The institutions that were created for that new world order — such as the UN, ICC, ICJ, World Bank and IMF — are either complicit or watching helplessly an ongoing genocide by a sociopathic, hyper-ethno-religious regime in the settler colony called Israel. The impunity provided to that apartheid state is crossing sociological and political norms not only of centuries but of millennia.
We are witnessing a pre-civilizational era — even pre-hunter-gatherer, suffice it to say — where politics and diplomacy have no part. It seems that diplomacy and politics do not even exist. The law of the jungle and “might makes right” is what people are experiencing in the 21st century. All the philosophical ideals, all political roadmaps, all rules of governance and diplomacy cultivated by brilliant minds are standing by and watching in dismay. The cynical role of Western academia, intelligentsia and journalism in the smooth transaction of killing thousands of human beings — to the logical advocacy of it — has shaken the philosophical foundations of homo sapiens. The long, tiresome journey of evolution from the individual mammal brain to sophisticated systems and institutional assurances intended to get us out of fight-or-flight mode has taken a reverse turn, and we are once again left to fight or flee. Safety, basic human needs, rules-based societies and cultural norms — nothing seems to work here.
So-called Western civilization, which championed human rights, safety and civilizational progress, is an emperor with no clothes. Palestinian ethnic cleansing is not new; it is at least a 70-year-old feature of Western civilization’s relationship with that apartheid settler colony — yet what shape it has taken now is gut-wrenching. The unwillingness of the Western world to stop this genocide has forced the non-Western world to take a paradigm shift.
Before moving to the Global South countries, let us take a look at Western civilization itself and how it has absorbed the horrors of 24/7 HD transmission of horrific crimes against humanity by its allies. If we look at academia, student protests are overwhelming, but their purge is even more so. Social media companies are collecting data from social platforms and then following, gaslighting or, in some cases, targeting (even killing) those who are triggered by their mirror neurons showing discomfort against the actions of Israel. Universities are bullied and harassed and are forced to sign agreements to consider Palestinian support as antisemitic, such as at Harvard and Columbia. The Edward Said Institute at Columbia has agreed to be monitored by an external body. Similar is the case with journalism and the intelligence community: they are given two choices — either keep your dignity and professional integrity and get ruined, or take the Zionist stance and survive. Many have opted for the latter, it seems. The lofty ideas of freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association have been thrown out the window, resulting in the Western civilization exploding in a centro-peripheral manner. Above all, Western oligarchic regimes are ignoring the telltale signs and continuing their support for an apocalyptic ideology.
As for the non-Western, so-called uncivilized and sub-human Global South, they are already reading what’s written on the wall and have decided they are out of the illusions of a Western-led world order, liberal democracy and proclaimed humanity. They are instead fighting back after decades of subjugation and coercion, forming new alignments, looking for an actual international work, harboring new economic arrangements and advocating for a new civilizational initiative. They have long discovered that Bretton Woods institutions are a neo-colonial apparatus. The shekels of colonial ambitions have been transformed into new fancy packaging with a humanity-infused branding.
The recent attack on Qatar by Israel is a precursor, which of course has as its catalyst the continuous killing of Palestinians. An attack on a sovereign country under the pretense of fighting terrorists is not new; we witnessed similar kabuki rhetoric by India while violating the territorial integrity of Pakistan, which resulted in Pakistan showcasing its supremacy from planning to operational levels of a kinetic engagement. The humiliating defeat of India not only busted the bubble of domestic rhetoric but also exposed its international diplomatic isolation. That even triggered a paradigm shift in the RSS, the parent organization of the BJP, an ultra-right-wing ethno-religious fascist group. I have recently written in detail about that.
On the contrary, the attack on Qatar has not produced such results because it has decided to outsource its security. Qatar is not the only country in this regard; almost all the Gulf countries have similar arrangements, and now that Israel — backed by the West for its impunity — has attacked, the Gulf countries that outsource their security to the West are facing a dilemma. They are definitely looking for some reliable arrangement, and Pakistan — being the security stabilizer of the region and the only nuclear power in the Muslim world — is now being looked at as the security provider. I remember there was a time when pseudo neo-libs and neo-cons used to question Pakistan’s kinetic power; they demanded its purpose and function in a West-led, peaceful world. Questions such as why a country should invest in military power and why we need a military at all are now shivering in dismay — they were wrong all along.
The deterrence Pakistan has acquired and exhibited in the recent war with India has forced the world to rearrange its worldview. Just four months ago, Pakistan handed Indian aggression a dust-licking defeat and sent shockwaves globally, particularly in the Global North, whose military hardware melted down like a wax candle in front of what Pakistan presented in May 2025, Marka-e-Haq. Recently, Lt. Gen. (retd) Khalid Kidwai, who is a senior adviser to the country’s National Command Authority (NCA), disclosed the tail numbers of the destroyed Indian Air Force (IAF) Rafales as BS001, BS021, BS022 and BS027.
Speaking on the topic of “Stability of Pakistan’s Strategic Deterrence,” Gen. Kidwai said that strategic deterrence and limiting the operational cap on crisis escalation are built into Pakistan’s capability of Full Spectrum Deterrence (FSD).
The official number of Indian aircraft shot down is not six but seven: Lt. Gen. Kidwai stated four Rafales, one MiG-29, one Su-30 and one Mirage 2000 were destroyed in the air battles, while India also lost one Israeli-made Heron UAV.
The May 2025 standoff earned Pakistan respect; that credit definitely goes to all three wings of the Pakistan Army and the true leadership of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. This historic moment can be considered a paradigm shift. Now the world is looking at Pakistan not as friend or foe but as a kinetic giant that can protect friends and is more than enough to harm foes who would face defeat should they contemplate adventurism against Pakistan and its friends such as Saudi Arabia.
کوئی جل گیا ہوگا ، تاریخی مناظر pic.twitter.com/AcccB3uX1W
— Abdul Qayyum Siddiqui (@QayyumReports) September 17, 2025
On September 17, 2025, in Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed the “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement.” This agreement aims to develop aspects of defense cooperation between the two countries and strengthen joint deterrence against any aggression. The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both.
Official song of Saudi Pakistan Strategic Pact – Released by Desert Beat Records Riyadh.
This is next-level strategic partnership. pic.twitter.com/bnqBmn5zFh— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) September 17, 2025
Immediately after this historic development, Saudi media was flooded with a patriotic song expressing and promoting Pak-Saudi all-time-tested relations and their joint efforts for bringing peace to a region that is facing aggression from psychopaths such as the Israeli prime minister. Pakistan being a security provider is a high-stakes role with high risks, and I believe that our military and civil leadership understand these threats. Nations get historic moments that they can either benefit from or miss; Pakistan does not seem in a mood or mode to miss such opportunities and is taking appropriate moves, ready for a kinetic leap from ‘Net Security Stabilizer’ to ‘Net Security Provider.’
