There is no linear Trump foreign policy, just a catherine wheel of disconnected explosions thrown out across the night sky. We do not even ask them to have respect for international law, but ask to take a step back from going 100 miles away from international law.”All this has been accompanied by an open assault on the institutions of international law that stand in the way of coercive power. Washington’s turning away from international law and its institutions is especially sad because, as Dr Tor Krever, an assistant professor of international law at the University of Cambridge, points out, with Gaza “the language of legality has become the dominant frame of popular and political discourse”. In a special edition of the London Review of International Law, more than 40 academics have written essays discussing whether this sudden public faith in international law as a harbinger of justice is a load that the law has the capacity to bear. “International rules must be based on international law and must be written by all,” he said.

Source: The Guardian December 25, 2025 13:03 UTC