Democrats and Europeans are wailing about “international law” after the U.S. capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro. This should be their reminder that the only international law that is enforceable is “might makes right,” which is why the concept of “peace through strength” is so important to global stability and human rights.
The United Nations rushed to hold a meeting after Colombia decried the U.S. violation of “international law,” the same concern raised by Canada and Norway. Democratic politicians such as Sen. Mark Warner (VA) claim that this now gives some moral and legal justification to Russia and China with regard to their respective dreams of conquering Ukraine and Taiwan. “International law” is the go-to phrase in Democratic communications shops, U.N. meeting rooms, and press releases from the leaders of Western countries.
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But what is “international law?” Democrats and Europeans think they are sacred standards that we all adhere to out of respect for norms and global stability. Democrats, like Warner, think that the only reason China hasn’t invaded Taiwan yet is because of some respect for “international law.” Authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China pay lip service to it because they happily wield Western inventions against the West when it serves their interests.
But they both recognize what President Donald Trump and the GOP have recognized: “international law,” whatever it may be, is only as good as the guns that back it up. That is why Russia invaded Ukraine, in violation of sacred international law, knowing that America and Europe would not come to its full defense (no coincidence the invasion came when a Democrat was America’s president). It is also why China has not yet invaded Taiwan, as the country tries to feel out whether America intends to defend Taiwan from Chinese aggression. Those countries are not, and have never been, deterred or phased by “international law” when it comes to their interests.
The United Nations holds no power. It is a series of conferences and meetings where authoritarians control a bloated bureaucracy that can’t enforce any real action. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has been indicted by the U.N.’s top court, the International Criminal Court, under “international law,” and yet that hasn’t resulted in anything. He remains in power, and Russia remains in a war of conquest against Ukraine. To drive home how ridiculous the concept of “international law” is among Democrats and Europeans, the ICC claims that not taking action against climate change could be a violation of international law.
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In a world without American force, China, Russia, and other bad actors would do whatever they want, and “international law” would not stop them. What stops bad actors is the threat of force, which only comes from America (and, increasingly, only comes from Republican administrations). Europeans have defanged themselves and wonder why the world ignores their proclamations of international law. Democrats think negotiations are binding by virtue of “diplomacy,” which is how you end up with Secretary of State Antony Blinken being shocked that the Taliban was not following through on their promises to the Biden administration.
“International law” is whatever the nations with military power say it is. It is not the useless global bureaucracies and their fantastical rules about how the world should work, rules that Russia and China won’t follow. That is why the Trump administration’s peace-through-strength attitude, on display with Maduro’s arrest, is so important. Anything else is surrendering the rules of international law to militaristic dictatorships that know they can walk all over Europe, Canada, and America’s Democratic Party.