Welcome to the post-American new world disorder

From Aleppo to Tbilisi and even Paris, last weekend gave us a glimpse.

- Marc Champion

If you're curious to know what a truly post-American world will look like, take a close look at what's been going on the last few days, and you'll get what I suspect is a pretty accurate snapshot.

In the Levant, Syria's smouldering civil war flared up, with an apparently reformed Islamist terrorist organisation retaking the northern city of Aleppo. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, surprised even itself by the ease with which President Bashar al-Assad's forces initially melted before it.

This became feasible because Mr Assad's allies who stepped into the void in 2015, after then US President Barack Obama declined to hold the ring find their militaries sapped by engagements elsewhere. Russia is mired in Ukraine; Iran and Hezbollah have taken a severe beating from Israel. HTS, backed by Turkey, chose its moment accordingly.

None of these players asked for US permission to act. Even Israel ignored US opposition to its invasion of Lebanon and continued war in Gaza. US President Joe Biden's lame-duck administration has made clear it has nothing to do with the opposition campaign in Syria, and no interest in its continuation. Conspiracy theorists will need to find new narratives.

Meanwhile, in the Transcaucasia region, a long day's drive north-east from Aleppo, a decision by the government of Georgia to end its bid to join the European Union drew huge crowds into the streets of the capital Tbilisi. They fought rolling street battles with riot police, exchanging fireworks and other projectiles for water-cannon blasts.

This is happening because although the vast majority of Georgians say they want to join the EU, their current government has been able to keep power while abandoning the EU path.