In 1963, While discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis in his remarks to the American Society of International Law, former US Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, gave away the whole game by confirming that the entire framework of international law rests on the question of “ultimate power”.

He said as follows:

“I must conclude that the propriety of the Cuban quarantine is not a legal issue. The power, position and prestige of the United States had been challenged by another state; and law simply does not deal with such questions of ultimate power—power that comes close to the sources of sovereignty. I cannot believe that there are principles of law that say we must accept destruction of our way of life. One would be surprised if practical men, trained in legal history and thought, had devised and brought to a state of general acceptance a principle condemnatory of an action so essential to the continuation of pre-eminent power as that taken by the United States last October. Such a principle would be as harmful to the development of restraining procedures as it would be futile. No law can destroy the state creating the law. The survival of states is not a matter of law.”

In other words, no “legal issue” arises when the United States responds to a challenge to its “power, position, and prestige”. Those that wield “ultimate power” are not subject to international law.

I love me some Realpolitik!

Thanks for reading,

Notes:

Dean Acheson, ‘Remarks by the Honourable Dean Acheson’, Proceedings of the American Society of International Law at Its Annual Meeting 57 (April 1963): 13–15.