1. The Iraq war opened a new stage in the international struggle against hegemony. Hegemony and anti-hegemony are the main contradictions in the current world.
In nature, it is an indisputable fact that the United States launched the Iraq war. Legally speaking, the United States bypassed the United Nations in this war and seriously violated international law and basic international norms of conduct. From the motive point of view, the United States launched this war ostensibly out of concern about so-called weapons of mass destruction, but in essence in order to monopolize Iraq's oil resources, seek exclusive dominance in the Middle East and establish a unipolar world pattern. On the surface, this war is a joint operation between the United States and Britain. In fact, it is dominated by the United States, and Britain only plays a supporting role. Britain's participation in the war has no real influence on the war process. Its purpose is not to share hegemony with the United States, but to please the United States in order to sit firmly at the top of the "second master" under the United States. From a moral point of view, this war was forcibly launched by the United States regardless of the strong anti-war pressure of the international community and the participating countries, and the color of military imperialism was very prominent. These characteristics will not change because of the possible role of the United Nations in Iraq's reconstruction after the war.
This war has created a new situation in the international struggle against hegemony. Hegemony and anti-hegemony, as the basic contradictions in international relations after the Cold War, have always restricted the development of other international contradictions, but this role was sometimes concealed in the past. For example, the "9. 1 1" incident once concealed the contradiction between hegemony and anti-hegemony in the wave of anti-terrorism. The Iraq war has fully demonstrated the leading significance of hegemony and anti-hegemony in international relations. This war is affecting the contradictions between China and the West, East and West, North and South, different civilizations, and Arab countries and relevant countries, which is related to the position of the United Nations in international affairs and the development direction of the international order, and has aroused strong social repercussions in all countries of the world. This war has more problems, wider contradictions, wider scope and stronger influence than any incident after the Cold War. All this clearly shows that the "9. 1 1" incident and international terrorism are only by-products of hegemonism, and the dominant factor affecting the development of international relations is still the contradiction between hegemony and anti-hegemony, which is a struggle for the world pattern. Around the deep-seated problems of the world pattern, various international forces are accelerating the re-differentiation and combination. All kinds of important relations in the world, such as European-American relations, US-Russian relations, Russian-European relations and the relationship between the United States and the Islamic world, are undergoing major adjustments, and the international geopolitical and interest distribution pattern is also undergoing profound changes.
The contradiction and tension between the serious imbalance of international power after the Cold War and the current international order are the basic reasons for the dispute over the international pattern. The foreign policy of militarism and unilateralism of the Bush administration is not only the result of this basic contradiction, but also the direct cause of strengthening the dispute over the international pattern. After the Iraq war, the struggle for the world pattern will be more intense and the forms of struggle will be more diverse.