{"id":1851,"date":"2026-06-23T17:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1851"},"modified":"2026-06-23T17:45:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:45:24","slug":"superpowers-dont-ask-for-permission-to-be-superpowers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1851","title":{"rendered":"Superpowers don\u2019t ask for permission to be superpowers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

There is much wishful thinking, self-deception, and media bias concerning the Iran war.\u00a0 Nearly all political progressives currently assert that Iran has somehow \u201cwon,\u201d and more important to them, that the U.S. and Israel have \u201clost.\u201d\u00a0 This is accompanied by sweeping claims of a decline of the West.\u00a0 It is a partisan indulgence of moralizing rather than critical thinking, especially over an imaginary legal order.<\/p>

Read more The Solvency Trap: Anguish over SNAP revocations miss the real scandal<\/a><\/p>\n

War always invokes the concept of international law, and whether it can be summoned to enforce a settlement or punish combatants.\u00a0 It can do neither because there is no working functional enforcement body for international relations.\u00a0 This is an old legal theory that has been debated for decades, especially after World War II.\u00a0 The Nuremberg Trials created the impression that in the end, law \u201cworks.\u201d\u00a0 Those trials, however, were the actions of allied victors in a tribunal, so it\u2019s hard to say if the law was \u201cworking pure\u201d in that regard.\u00a0 Moreover, when Germany was split in two, it was simply policed militarily and politically by the West and the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall was not eventually torn down by court order.<\/p>\n

That won\u2019t stop the progressive Left from insisting that an imaginary force called international law can still intervene, and tell the U.S. and its allies what to do in the Middle East.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The president of the American Society of International Law claims in a NYT opinion that, if only the U.S. had gone politely to other countries first, and to the United Nations, it would have realized that it needed the consent of the Arab states, the EU, and the UN in order to properly establish a basis for pursuing its interests.\u00a0 As she states, \u201cThe United States attempted to essentially go it alone. Acting only with Israel, President Trump believed he could use the unparalleled might of the U.S. military.\u00a0 The president did not seek approval from the U.N. He did not consult with partners in the region before starting a conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is fascinating about this view, which is the progressive Left\u2019s collective verdict on the U.S. and Israel, is that it rests on a naive intellectual abstraction about superpowers<\/em>: that they are \u201ccollectives\u201d that work through global institutional consensus.\u00a0 That is a logical fallacy in a number of dimensions, but especially because there is no stable global international consensus that is even possible.<\/p>\n

The world is not run by overt partnerships or by leaderless, soft institutions like the U.N.\u00a0 Superpowers don\u2019t go around and ask if it\u2019s O.K. to be a superpower<\/em>.\u00a0 That is not an argument for recklessness or hegemony.\u00a0 It is a reality of the nature of power and interest.\u00a0 Indeed, that is why the EU is not<\/em> a superpower, and never will be: it is an assembly of quarrelsome relatively minor states, and overseen by an ideological bureaucracy in Brussels that fancies itself a unified voice in foreign affairs.<\/p>\n

The biggest illusion that the global political Left is indulging in its criticism of the U.S. is twofold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Read more RIP \u2018Maestro\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

In the first instance, it assumes that the other actual superpowers\u2014China and Russia\u2014are somehow allied together against the U.S. and Israel, and that Iran is enjoying their protection.\u00a0 That is difficult to square in realpolitik terms.\u00a0 China and Russia care about China and Russia<\/em>.\u00a0 That is among the reasons they are superpowers.\u00a0 As for oil, they have plenty of their own, and can buy it and sell it on the open market.\u00a0 The Caspian is surely a prize and won\u2019t be surrendered by anyone on the Eurasian continent, but it will still be subject to international exchange regardless of who may claim it (the same is not true of the Ukraine, which will eventually be reabsorbed by Russia, because Russia has the absolute power to do so\u2014and it won\u2019t be going to the UN or Brussels for permission, nor will China over Taiwan).<\/p>\n

The second illusion from the political Left about the Iran war involves a completely premature and naive judgement about military power<\/em>.\u00a0 As one insightful observer put it concerning the use of force and relative power, the U.S. and Israel have been fighting with one hand tied behind their back<\/em>.\u00a0 That is, despite claims\u2014and wishful thinking\u2014that the U.S. is tired and subject to international pressure, and that Israel has been intimidated by Iran and having second thoughts, the reality is that U.S. military restraint has been observed, and overwhelming use of force has been held in abeyance<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iran and its allies in the liberal West, are still suffering from wishful thinking about the nature of power.\u00a0 That includes a misconception about international law as a supranational force that mediates international disputes.<\/p>\n

International order isn\u2019t made by bureaucratic charters and treaties, but by common interests in an eventual \u201cdeal\u201d made by people.<\/em><\/p>\n

President Trump instinctively understands what real law is, and is giving a lesson to those who believe in an illusory international legal order that works through the magic of paper-work and institutions. This is not an argument for casual foreign policy or unbridled violence.\u00a0 It is merely the pragmatic reality of superpower force: it does not start with international permission, and it does not end with international law<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Matthew G. Andersson is a former aerospace CEO and law and policy author.\u00a0 He has testified before the US Senate, and is a graduate of the University of Chicago.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Read more Crime \u2026 and no punishment<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"ChatGPT\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image generated by ChatGPT.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is much wishful thinking, self-deception, and media bias concerning the Iran war.\u00a0 Nearly all political progressives currently assert that Iran has somehow \u201cwon,\u201d and more important to them, that the U.S. and Israel have \u201clost.\u201d\u00a0 This is accompanied by sweeping claims of a decline of the West.\u00a0 It is a partisan indulgence of moralizing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21],"tags":[783],"class_list":["post-1851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign-policy","category-iran-war","tag-related-topics-iran-war-israel-trump-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\nSuperpowers don\u2019t ask for permission to be superpowers - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=1851\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Superpowers don\u2019t ask for permission to be superpowers - 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