UN General Assembly
2025

Instead, they talk about special military operations and the need to protect those who, frankly, do not want to be protected. This shame is a significant achievement of our time. To the extent that current international norms limit the behavior of offenders, they help countless people to survive, escape torture or even prosper. Thus, it is an ever-growing concern to witness these same norms being subjected to increasingly open and brutal attacks. Our international order is being slowly eroded by the irresponsible actions of those who should know better. The world is turning into a much more dangerous place. We have seen this before. We cannot ignore the striking parallels between the present day and the events of 1938, a time when the world chose appeasement over international law and diplomacy over deterrence, culminating in the infamous Munich Pact. That was a short-sighted attempt to satisfy a dangerous revisionist aggressor by giving away the territory of a sovereign nation. It proved to be a complete failure.