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The national and international policies – including the attempted coup five years ago to current incursions and warnings – undermine both domestic and international law. However, the issue goes deeper.

These actions endanger the very concept of civilization itself.

A guiding principle of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from attacking and exploiting the vulnerable. Otherwise, we would be locked in a state of nature where only the fittest wins.

This concept lies at the center of America’s founding documents. It is equally the core of the postwar international order supported by the America, emphasizing international cooperation, democratic governance, human rights, and the supremacy of law.

Yet, it is a fragile ideal, easily violated by those who choose to misuse their influence. Preserving it requires that the influential have enough integrity to abstain from seeking short-term wins, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

Absolute power does not equal right. It makes for turmoil, upheaval, and hostilities.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged prey upon those that are not, the framework of our shared norms frays. If these actions are left unchecked, the system fails. Without intervention, the world can fall into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a international landscape marked by extreme inequality. Authority and resources are held by fewer hands than in recent memory. This encourages the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they act with a sense of omnipotent.

The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The influence of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers numerous countries. Advanced technology is could further concentrate wealth and power to a greater degree. The offensive capability of the world's largest nations is without parallel in human history.

Enabled by a compliant faction and a sympathetic supreme court, the highest office has been turned into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of the state in the modern era.

Combine these factors and you perceive the threat.

A clear connection links past transgressions to present-day provocations. Each were premised on the overconfidence of omnipotence.

You see parallel dynamics in other global contexts: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the worldwide exploitation by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, strength without restraint does not make right. It makes for uncertainty, revolution, and war.

History shows that rules and conventions to limit the influential also protect them. If these guardrails are removed, their endless appetite for greater influence and riches in time lead to their downfall – taking down their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten international catastrophe.

Such contempt for legal order will haunt America and the global community – and the very idea of civilization – for a long time.