Beyond the deep polarization within the US, a fracture is also emerging internationally.

In the wider world on one side are those who find the foreign policy actions of this US administration deeply troubling for our global order, and look to see how a better order might be reconstructed. These people are not naive and oblivious. Many of them are deep scholars and seasoned political leaders. Many carry the scars of battles they have themselves fought.

On the other side are those who consider actions justified by nothing more than the statement "We are a superpower" the natural state of the world. In these observers' view, everything is just power and Empire. Sure, for some of these onlookers, there is the appeal of sounding "hard-truths, tough-man". Indeed, arguing for Empire, as long as Empire is crushing only other people far away, is always easy. But on this side too, there are those who draw on profound research and thinking.

For observers not trained to understand the difference between positive and normative analysis, it is too easy to confuse what is right from what merely is. (All those bold statements about Might Makes Right....). When all this turmoil ends, however it does, there will need to be a reckoning both within the US and across the international community.

"Which side were you on when all that was unfolding?"