United States

Being an international lawyer can sometimes feel like being a librarian in the middle of a riot. You are deeply invested in the idea that there are rules – impeccable legal rules – that, if followed, would make the world a better, more orderly, place. You clutch well-thumbed and thoroughly annotated copies of the Nicaragua case, the Rome Statute and Oppenheim’s International Law, that explain exactly how everything should work, if only people would stop upturning chairs and setting things on fire long enough to listen. Undeterred by flying books to the head, you release sternly-worded statements, quote precedents, consult tribunals, ask councils to issue resolutions, even engage in targeted shushing (‘comply or I’ll publicly release your browser history’). But the rioters persist in throwing around treaty texts like Molotov cocktails. Eventually the library itself is on fire. With a theatrical flourish, the doors fly open and in walks Donald Trump. He surveys the room, nods approvingly at the chaos and declares ‘This librarian is biased! She’s trying to enforce rules that don’t benefit…