Chas Freeman is a highly respected retired U.S. diplomat. He served in both Republican and Democratic Party administrations over thirty years. His career included being Richard Nixon’s main interpreter in negotiations with China, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1989 to 1992, and later the Assistant Secretary of Defense. He was interviewed by Helena Cobban, President of Just World Educational, on 17 September 2025. Video of interview appears below.
Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr. provided a sweeping analysis of what he described as a fundamental “sea change” in the global order, accelerated by the conflict in Gaza. He argued that the five-century era of Western domination had ended, with the West, and particularly the United States, having lost its moral authority due to hypocritical applications of international law.
Freeman contended that the “global majority,” led by nations like China and India, was now the conservative force in the world, seeking to resurrect the principles of the post-WWII order by building new institutions like BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, while the US had become a “radical and reactionary” power.
He was deeply critical of US foreign policy, which he claimed had abandoned diplomacy for military force. The interview concluded with a stark condemnation of Zionism, which he described as a “negation of Judaism”. Israel’s actions in Gaza have exposed it to the world and sealed its eventual failure. Freeman predicts “the end of days… for the Zionists.”
In her introduction of Amb. Freeman, Ms. Cobban highlighted his extensive diplomatic record, noting he was one of the few people to have interacted professionally with figures like Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro.
Key Points made by Amb. Freeman:
- The historical era of Western global domination has definitively ended, giving way to a new multipolar world order.
- The West had lost its moral standing due to profound double standards, particularly its outrage over casualties in Ukraine compared to its complicity in the deaths of millions of Muslims and the genocide in Gaza.
- The non-Western “global majority” was portrayed as the new conservative force, attempting to restore the principles of international law by creating new institutions (BRICS, SCO) to replace the failing, Western-dominated ones.
- The United States had become a “radical and reactionary” global actor, abandoning diplomacy, engaging in personalistic politics, and pursuing self-defeating economic policies.
- European nations were characterized as “pathetic” and a “coalition of the deluded,” lacking the power, unity, or vision to act as meaningful global players.
- The atrocities in Gaza have permanently besmirched Zionism, leading to a massive global backlash, including among a growing number of American Jews who now viewed it as a “heretical” negation of Jewish ethics.
- He argued that Israeli apartheid was “infinitely worse” than the version practiced in South Africa because its ultimate goal was the expulsion or murder of the indigenous population.
- While militarily outmatched, Hamas had achieved a strategic victory by successfully elevating the Palestinian cause to the top of the global agenda, winning “in the world of ideas and propaganda.”
Notable Quotes from the interview
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- “The five century old domination of the world by the West has come to an end.”
- “The West has not only lost its commanding power in every sphere but the military, but it’s lost its moral standing.”
- “I consider the Europeans to be pathetic. They are what I call the coalition of the deluded.”
- “We didn’t just hand the car keys to the drunk. We got drunk ourselves and shared the wheel with the drunk.”
- “Hamas, which set out on October 7th to elevate the Palestinian issue to the top of the global agenda has done so. It may be cowering in tunnels, but in the world of ideas and propaganda, it has won.”
- “I think we’re looking at the end of days in Palestine, not just for the Palestinians, but for the Zionists.”
