How is it possible that in the judicial system of the so-called “developed” world, someone can openly threaten the destruction of a country—and, more broadly, an entire civilization—while actually possessing the military and political capability to do so, without facing any consequences? How can it be that someone who has initiated large-scale military actions and war, without justification and in a completely unlawful manner, aimed at imposing total U.S. dominance and destroying Iran’s military and civilian infrastructure, is not prosecuted? Even voicing such threats is considered a war crime—so why isn’t Trump arrested and put on trial?

At the same time, we know that any ordinary citizen from the lower or middle classes in that same United States, if they make even the smallest mistake or threat against another person, can quickly be reported and prosecuted.

What does this reality tell us about the laws of this system? The most important point it reveals is that the laws of the system reflect and reinforce the interests of the ruling class, not the interests of the people. In other words, laws are designed to keep the population under the control of those in power, rather than to protect people from those rulers. Laws that are applied only to the powerless, while the most powerful either impose them through military force or bypass them whenever they become too restrictive—this very system of power allows someone like Trump to use anything, even weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs, in order to preserve what he defines as “U.S. interests.” What more is needed for us to come to hate such a system and to seek to put an end to it and live in a different way?

What do we learn about international law? From the very beginning, this attack—and all of its aspects, from the killing of military leaders to the targeting of infrastructure and schools—has been illegal under international law. Yet these laws have so far failed to prevent anything. Another clear example is when the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the former Defense Minister of Israel, and yet nothing happened. The system of international law, especially the International Criminal Court—which is the first permanent international court tasked with prosecuting genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression—is fundamentally structured and designed on the basis of an imperial system and in favor of the global ruling class.

In the post-World War II international legal system, the responsibility for ensuring the security of the international legal order was assigned to the United Nations Security Council, which itself was a manifestation of the victors' position in the world order and, by granting them veto power, led to injustices and exacerbated the unequal status of these countries. This very order is today in the process of collapsing and does not even perform its usual function. For the possibility of continued existence on this war-torn planet, one can no longer rely on 'laws' or depend on usual channels. Another world must be built before we all sink together.