What if America Followed the Rules?
About this episode
What would American foreign policy look like if it actually followed international law? Kinstler, a Harvard fellow and NYT Magazine writer, starts from Mamdani's viral pledge to enforce the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu — noting the US is not a member and the Trump administration is campaigning to dismantle the court. The alternative on offer is 'flexible realism,' or Machtpolitik. A Moyn and Bâli essay argues that the collapse of American hegemony could open space for a more genuinely lawful order. Gaza dominates: the ICJ genocide case, whether Israel's campaign qualifies, and Europe's shift toward arms embargoes. They debate whether law constrains great powers at all, given the ICC has no enforcement mechanism beyond member states, and note the irony of Democrats demanding Netanyahu's arrest while opposing ICC jurisdiction over Americans. Ukraine, Taiwan and the South China Sea round out an era of wars with no discernible end.