‘Predators’ seek wars, not rules

The leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia are seeking to impose a new “predatory” world order while most countries are too cowardly to stop them, rights group Amnesty International said yesterday.

Launching the global group’s annual report in London, Secretary General Agnes Callamard condemned US President Donald Trump, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu as “predators”.

Such leaders have rejected the multilateral system developed since World War II in favour of a “vision without moral compass”, where “war, not diplomacy, rules”, the report into global protection of human rights said.

The report comes at a “challenging moment” that could “destroy all that was built up over the last 80 years”, Callamard warned in the preface.

“Throughout 2025, Trump, Putin and Netanyahu, among others, pursued economic and political domination through international destruction, suppression and violence on a massive scale,” she said in her opening speech.

These leaders are “destroying all that stands in the way of their domination and greed” and “assaulting the very foundations of universal human rights”, she said.

“And rather than confront those predators, the majority of governments, most notably European governments, opted instead for appeasement.”

The spiralling conflict in the Middle East is “just the latest example of this new predatory world order,” based on a vision of the world that is “dehumanised through racist ideology”, Callamard said.

China is not on the “predator” list because it has been “much more discreet”, she said, but the country nevertheless has “supported the junta  in Myanmar” and is “involved in supporting Russia”.

Focusing on Israel’s actions in Gaza, the report said: “The world’s most powerful governments failed to take meaningful action to stop the genocide or to bring an end to Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid.”

When it comes to facing up to these “bullies and looters”, almost every world leader “has demonstrated cowardice”, Callamard said, calling this the “era of the coward”.

“Most of the world, sadly, has to be defined as a coward,” she told AFP.