by Xinhua writers Wu Liming, Zhao Jiasong

LONDON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem," an acclaimed Chinese sci-fi novel, contains a chilling vision: civilization shattered by celestial chaos, plunging society into "the Chaotic Era" where fear overrules reason and disasters dictate survival.

Increasingly, in some parts of the world, people may find themselves living in that dystopia. The inevitable question follows: Who is trying to make the scenario of "Era of Chaos" into reality?

Many recent events provide clues to the answer. At the end of the Cold War, the United States assured Russia that NATO would not expand eastward. That promise now lies in fragments -- visible on every map where NATO's reach extends from the Baltic to the Black Sea, its forces pressed against Russia's borders. This was the broken vow that ignited Ukraine's powder keg.

The Iran nuclear accord reveals a similar pattern. This painstakingly negotiated agreement achieved a fragile equilibrium -- until Washington unilaterally dismantled it. Worse still, as renewed negotiations stood poised to begin, the United States tacitly condoned Israeli operations that assassinated Iranian scientists and conducted precision strikes against nuclear facilities.

By 2025, Washington's contempt for international norms had reached unprecedented levels. Israel's relentless assault on Gaza has unleashed a humanitarian nightmare so severe it pierces even Western indifference. The Strip has been transformed into a living hell -- yet the White House now circulates plans to "clear" and "redevelop" the territory, treating Palestinian lives as mere impediments to urban renewal.

With brazen disregard for international law, Washington has lately launched airstrikes on Iran's nuclear sites absent any declaration of war -- a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which collectively prohibit both armed aggression and attacks on civilian nuclear facilities.

To the U.S. government, truth now arrives via bombers and drones. When "preemptive" strikes replace diplomacy, facts become collateral damage.

When Washington declares unwavering support for Israel's right to self-defense while dismissing Gazan civilians and Iranian nuclear scientists as collateral damage, civilization regresses to its most barbaric instincts -- a world where power supersedes principle, deception masquerades as statecraft, and international treaties become parchment relics of a forgotten age.

This isn't strategy but civilizational decay. Liu's theory of "the Chaotic Era" suggest that those trade international laws for violence and ethics for expediency aren't pursuing power; they are courting disaster. ■