Our friend L. Michael Hager, cofounder and former Director General, International Development Law Organization, Rome posted this in August, principally to speak to the degrading of the rule of law internationally, as the genocide in Gaza continued.
We bring his insight and outrage to you now, as the fascist-in-chief and his Secretary of War have ordered multiple strikes on boats in the Caribbean and now the Pacific. They’ve reported killing 27 “drug smugglers” which, legit news media continue to point out, is a claim made without providing any evidence. Relatives in Trinidad of some of those who have been killed say they were fishermen.
Stopping “drugs” is not the aim of these operations, as it is not the aim of the deportations sweeping up thousands of immigrants from U.S. cities. One eighth of the U.S. Navy is in, or enroute to, the sea off Venezuela, the expected target of Trump’s law-less overthrow of Maduro, while Trump threatens Colombia and any nation which doesn’t bow down.
Thank you, Michael.
The phrase “Rule of Law” (ROL) is frequently referenced in the major media but seldom defined. Google calls it “a principle under which all persons, institutions and entities are accountable to laws that are: [P]publicly promulgated, [E]equally enforced [and] [I]independently adjudicated.” To me, the rule of law means the legal protection of democratic institutions and individual human rights. It puts legal guardrails on abuses of power against institutions and individuals.
Globally, the ROL is represented by the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and by the Second and Fourth Hague Conventions of 1899, the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 and the Genocide Convention of 1948.
Domestically, we rely on the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court interpretations to express the Rule of Law. Enforcement relies on adherence to law by individuals and institutions that hold power and by the acceptance by ordinary citizens. In the present environment, the major ROL breaches have occurred in the mass deportations of immigrants, in the punishment of free speech, and in the breakdown of congressionally created government bodies.
Not surprisingly, such gaps in legal norms have facilitated dark money, flawed elections, kidnappings, the deportation of immigrants without due process, and open corruption.
Internationally, the demise of legal rules is most evident in the Israel/Gaza conflict. Up to now, there has been only limited legal accountability for the war crimes of Hamas in its brutal October 7, 2023 attacks on Israeli civilians and for Israel’s continuing genocidal retribution (a 22-month campaign that has taken more than 60,000 lives (mostly women and children). The failure of the ICJ to issue a final determination of “genocide,” the pledge of some members of the ICC not to enforce arrest warrants against top Israeli officials, and U.S. complicity by providing lethal arms and diplomatic cover to Israel reflect a blanket repudiation of the international legal order that the U.S. helped establish in the last century. >>Continue reading here.
Joy Damiani made a We Are Not Your Soldiers presentation and answered many student questions coming from an engaged NYC middle school class this October 2025.
The fall schedule is packed, including with in-person visits to NYC schools this week. The veterans and organizers are all volunteers. Help needed for travel stipends, please.