Barack Hatfield

Somebody whacks 4 Iranian scientists, the Americans target Gaddafi, the Iranians try to kill the Saudi ambassador in the U.S., a mullah puts a contract out on Rushdie, the Seal team murders bin Laden, the Russians poison a dissident in England. All of these attacks are carried out with great righteousness. But it does sound very much like the world of Don Corleone.

These events all supersede treaties and national agreements, relying instead upon some unwritten and presumably commonly held standard among some other, sometimes unstated, groups. Bin Laden is certainly an American enemy (and a Pakistani guest), but who is the Iranian scientists' enemy? And Gaddafi, who wrote the standard he violated and who gets to bring him to justice? And who sat on Rushdie's court?

Laws and agreements are all we have between civilization and the Hatfields and the McCoys. The weaponry has simply outgrown those tribes.