In the year of our Lord twenty twenty-three
it was clear that by the end of October
the mask had dropped
from the rules-for-thee-but-not-for-me
Liberal International Order.

But the uglier-still truth is
that this mask had in fact fallen off
or been mostly removed long decades ago
in the lucid view of those precious few
who'd refused to refuse to notice

that the 'justice' and 'human rights'
of which this Order so vigorously boasted
were — like its make-believe 'freedom'
and 'democracy' — all so ungodfully bogus;

were but obviously-hollow fake labels;
were the fabled parts of a dark ruse used
to provide the slimiest of sunshiny cover
for unspeakable deeds and dark moves.

The feeble pretense of altruistic intent
and benign designs was still in effect
even as LIO states — claiming outrage —
only ever levied the emptiest of threats;

toothless two-faced admonitions at best
— those words-only protests so prized
by the alliance of 'rules-based' hypocracies

all of whose members complied by turning
a beyond-disturbing all-but-defacto blind eye
to what was rightly described as genocide;
to what was — by any objective measure —
a flaming feather in Satan's blazing cap.

An amazingly easily beat rap
apparently ethnic cleansing was cool
as long as those carrying it out had the gall
to invoke self-defense no matter how cruel
or demonstrably in-your-face false

— wanton slaughter it seemed was cool
as long as those who did it were given
however-implicit permission
by the always-hidden top-level ghouls
who call the shots for Team Rules.