THE TRUE ELEPHANT

how can any country in the world prosecute acts of terrorism involving a handful of people and then engage in war? the national armies of the world account for nearly a hundred per cent of the human-caused terror on this planet, yet they are legitimized even at the level of international law. 

this is truly the most enormous elephant in a not-well-hidden corner of human society and anyone with an even slightly detached and rational voice would necessarily come to the same conclusion — war is the single most destructive deadly criminal and unethical activity in the history of the world. anyone in any government waging war for any reason outside its borders should be tried as a criminal actor in a world court. any people in any government waging war against its own people for any reason should also be tried as criminal actors in a world court. 

the rights of individuals supersede the rights of nations. the rights of individual people are primary and universal, and they are the natural rights from which all other (group) rights derive. anyone, no matter in what uniform or flag they are wrapped, who harms or kills other people is a criminal and the size of the offense is the size of the damage they do to others. instead of being lauded as heroes, the people who plan and execute these large-scale atrocities should be condemned and their efforts dismantled.

how will order be kept at the scale of nations? a world body (which is already present in its nascent form) is the only organization capable of ensuring war between nations will not occur, and it should be the only organization allowed to maintain a standing army, a small mobile force to be legitimately deployed to arrest perpetrators anywhere on this globe as soon as they even attempt to acquire the technical means to wage war, or even by threat attempt to usurp the rights of others. belief in the rule of law is widely understood and there is less to be feared in this arrangement than any other we have tried on this planet, as long as men continue to attempt to dominate and harm one another.

whether we come to this arrangement after a global conflict that devastates much of the planet, or we come to this in our maturity as an ethical actor, i cannot say. that we will come to it, provided we survive as a species on a viable planet, i have no doubt.