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This aspirational #order is rooted in the idealistic aftermath of the #WWII, when it was transcribed into a series of documents: the #UnitedNations Charter, the Universal Declaration of #HumanRights (UDHR), the #UN #Genocide Convention (CPPCG), & the #GenevaConventions on the #LawsOfWar, among others. In the >7 decades since they were written, these documents have frequently been ignored.

The #CPPCG did not prevent #genocide in #Rwanda. The #GenevaConventions did not stop the Vietnamese from torturing American #PrisonersOfWar, did not prevent Americans at #AbuGhraib from torturing Iraqi #POWs, & do not prevent Russians from torturing Ukrainian POWs today. Signatories of the #UDHR include known violators of human rights, among them #China, #Cuba, #Iran, & #Venezuela. The #UN Commission on #HumanRights deteriorated into parody long ago.

Nevertheless, these documents have influenced real behavior in the real world. Soviet dissidents used to embarrass their govt by pointing to #HumanRights language in treaties the #Kremlin had signed & did not respect. Even when fighting brutal or colonial #wars, countries that had signed #treaties on the #LawsOfWar either tried to abide by them—avoiding #civilian casualties, for example—or at least felt remorseful when they failed to do so.

Both aggressors have deployed a sophisticated, militarized, modern form of #terrorism, & they do not feel apologetic or embarrassed about this at all. #Terrorists, by definition, are not fighting conventional #wars & do not obey the #LawsOfWar. Instead, they deliberately create #fear & #chaos among #civilian populations.