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The national and international initiatives – from the attempted coup previously to recent moves and warnings – erode both national and global law. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the core idea of civilization itself.

A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to stop the stronger from harming and taking advantage of the vulnerable. Failing that, we risk being trapped in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest prevails.

This principle is embedded of the nation's founding texts. This is also the core of the global system established after WWII advocated by the United States, built on international cooperation, democracy, individual liberties, and the rule of law.

But, it is a vulnerable principle, frequently ignored by those who seek to abuse their influence. Maintaining it necessitates that the powerful have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking temporary advantages, and that society ensure they answer for their actions should they falter.

Unfettered might is not right. It makes for uncertainty, upheaval, and hostilities.

Whenever individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are weaker, the structure of society unravels. If these actions are left unchecked, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can plunge into chaos and war. We have seen this pattern previously.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than ever before. This invites the privileged to leverage their position against the less fortunate because they act with a sense of above the law.

The fortunes of a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals is almost beyond comprehension. The power of big tech, big oil, and large defense contractors covers a vast portion of the world. AI is poised to further concentrate wealth and power even more. The military might of the major powers is unprecedented in the annals of time.

Supported by political allies and a pliant high court, the executive office has been made into the most powerful and unaccountable instrument of the state in history.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

A clear connection connects previous transgressions to present-day threats. These were founded upon the arrogance of omnipotence.

You see parallel dynamics in international affairs: in territorial invasions, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by powerful corporate entities.

Yet, raw power does not establish right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and armed conflict.

History shows that frameworks designed to limit the powerful also safeguard them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth ultimately cause their collapse – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.

This kind of lawlessness will haunt international stability – and indeed a rules-based order – for years to come.