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The national and international strategies – from the attempted coup five years ago to latest incursions and warnings – undermine not only domestic and international legal frameworks. But that’s not all.

These actions endanger the core idea of a civilized world.

The moral purpose of any advanced culture is to forestall the more powerful from harming and taking advantage of the less powerful. Failing that, we would be locked in a conflict of all against all where survival of the strongest prevails.

This principle is central of the Declaration and Constitution. It is equally the core of the global system established after WWII championed by the United States, which stresses international cooperation, democracy, human rights, and the legal authority.

But, it is a fragile construct, often broken by those who would exploit their power. Upholding it requires that the those in charge have enough integrity to avoid seeking short-term wins, and that the public hold them accountable should they falter.

Absolute power does not equal right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and war.

Each instance individuals, companies, or nations that are advantaged target and use those that are less so, the fabric of civilization frays. If such aggression are allowed to continue, the structure collapses. If not stopped, the world can fall into disorder and conflict. It has happened before.

Our current reality is a international landscape grown vastly more unequal. Authority and resources are increasingly centralized than in recent memory. This creates conditions for the privileged to leverage their position against the disadvantaged because they perceive themselves as omnipotent.

The wealth of a small group of billionaires is almost beyond comprehension. The power of global industrial giants covers numerous countries. AI is poised to centralize resources and influence even more. The military might of the leading countries is unprecedented in human history.

Enabled by a compliant faction and an accommodating high court, the executive office has been transformed into the most powerful and unaccountable agent of the state in recent memory.

Combine these factors and you perceive the danger.

An unbroken thread ties past lawless actions to present-day menaces. Both were founded upon the overconfidence of absolute power.

One observes a similar pattern in international affairs: in wars of aggression, in coercive diplomacy, and in the rampant monopolization by industrial titans.

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

Historical evidence demonstrates that rules and conventions to constrain the powerful also shield them. Absent these limits, their insatiable demands for greater influence and riches ultimately bring them down – taking down their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten global conflict.

This blatant disregard for rules will cast a long shadow over international stability – and the very idea of civilization – for the foreseeable future.