Major powers resorting to war more often, and doing so without even trying to justify it under the UN Charter rules

Maybe so much time has passed that some countries have forgotten what everybody’s objective was at the end of the Second World War: to replace the rule of war with the rule of law. If so, they should all be obliged to watch Chimp Empire, to remind them where we have come from and why we need to get to a better place.

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Not only are major powers resorting to war more often, but they are doing so without even trying to justify it under the UN Charter rules for the use of force: Russia in Ukraine, Israel in Gaza, the United States over Iran. The Hill Times photographs by Sam Garcia and courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

August 5, 2025

LONDON, U.K.—Now would be a good time to watch a Netflix documentary series called Chimp Empire. It’s about one year of an ongoing war between two bands of chimpanzees, shot up close and personal, and the narrator never suggests that there is any similarity betw...

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