Drew 谷神不死 Herzig 🇺🇦

🧵As Warsaw decides it will defy the ICC and allow Netanyahu to travel to Poland, it is worth revisiting the idea that the "world order" was assaulted by Trump but upheld by Biden. @samuelmoyn and I argue in @latimes that Biden inflicted tremendous damage to international norms and laws, not just because of the painful hypocrisy of claiming to uphold a "Rules-Based International Order" (RBIO) while aiding Israel's war crimes in Gaza, but because the RBIO is itself an assault on international law. Rather than a continuation of the post-WWII order, the RBIO is a revisionist attempt to replace a law-centered order with a rules-centered one. The difference is crucial - the process of promulgating international law is formal and less ambiguous, while the nature of rules is indeterminate, undefined, and susceptible to political manipulation and double standards. “Rules” tend to be created by states or alliances of states with the power to impose them on others, while consent-based international law consists of verifiable customary practices or legal agreements that states voluntarily agree to. One cannot forge an international order based on rules conceived largely among like-minded states and assert that they have the force of binding norms and laws. Trump is not likely to ever utter the words Rules-Based Order. That is a step in the right direction. If the US continued to use it, rather than creating a more stable world, it would risk fueling a transition to a multi-order world where other major powers also created their own coalition-of-the-willing rules systems. Of course, Trump's disregard for international law and institutions is deeply problematic. But as the world becomes more multipolar, the US needs to rethink its attitude towards international law and the ability of IL to constrain the actions of rival states in a manner that US power has done for decades but likely will not be able to do to the same extent going forward. Trump may find out that he in particular needs laws and institutions that uphold the order precisely because he seeks to reduce the US's military footprint abroad. If he is serious about bringing US troops home, then institutions, norms, and laws that can help sustain stability will serve these goals. Otherwise, the risk of chaos and anarchy may pull the US back into these theaters. We're not holding our breath that Trump will come around to this point, but the argument needs to be made. In the meantime, dropping the RBIO concept is the right call./ latimes.com/opinion/story/…

Hard to imagine a worse "peace" proposal for Ukraine than that of @scharap @PhillipsPOBrien explains why, as well as showing how a strategic approach to Russia and Iran and NK and China could link them all together. Defeat Russia first is the key.

Israel forcibly evacuates Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza bbc.in/4abNeY9

"When you enter Gaza, you are God": Inside the minds of IDF soldiers who commit war crimes / Prof. Yoel Elizur haaretz.com/opinion/2024-1…