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The domestic and foreign strategies – including the attempted coup previously to latest incursions and statements – weaken both domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

They endanger the core idea of what we mean by.

A ethical foundation of any advanced culture is to prevent the dominant from preying upon and using the vulnerable. Without this, we would be permanently immersed in a state of nature where survival of the strongest wins.

This principle is embedded of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the modern framework of international relations supported by the United States, emphasizing international cooperation, popular sovereignty, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

Yet, it is a fragile principle, frequently ignored by those who would exploit their power. Maintaining it requires that the influential have the moral fortitude to refrain from seeking immediate gains, and that society demand responsibility if they don't.

Unchecked strength is not right. It makes for uncertainty, chaos, and conflict.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are richer and more powerful attack and exploit those that are less so, the framework of society frays. Should such behavior are left unchecked, the structure collapses. Without intervention, the world can fall into instability and violence. We have seen this pattern previously.

We now inhabit a society and world with deepening divides. Political and economic power are held by fewer hands than in modern history. This creates conditions for the powerful to take advantage of the less fortunate because they perceive themselves as untouchable.

The resources of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals is staggering. The reach of major corporations in technology, energy, and aerospace spans numerous countries. Advanced technology is poised to centralize wealth and power further. The military might of the major powers is unmatched in the annals of time.

Empowered by complicit legislators and a sympathetic judicial body, the executive office has been made into the supreme and answerable-to-none agent of government in recent memory.

Consider this confluence and you grasp the threat.

An unbroken thread links previous breaches of norms to ongoing menaces. Each were based on the arrogance of absolute power.

You see parallel dynamics in the actions of other powers: in military conflicts, in strategic threats, and in the global depredation by massive conglomerates.

But, unfettered might does not establish right. It produces uncertainty, upheaval, and bloodshed.

History shows that rules and conventions to limit the influential also protect them. Without such constraints, their relentless pursuit for greater influence and riches ultimately lead to their downfall – along with their enterprises, countries, or domains. And threaten global conflict.

This blatant disregard for rules will plague international stability – and indeed civilized conduct – for the foreseeable future.