WHEN Cole Porter sang ‘Anything Goes’ in 1934, his ironic lament was restricted to the scandals of American Depression-era high society. Today the song serves as an apt anthem for geopolitics. Consider recent reporting in the Washington Post about India’s assassinations of individuals on Pakistani soil, following a report by the Guardian last April that claimed India has backed the killing of up to 20 people in Pakistan since 2020. This is a playbook India has allegedly also used in Canada against Sikh activists. This is just the latest reminder that the rules-based international order has collapsed.

Of course, a rules-based international order seems a moot point in the wake of the horrific Gaza war, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The impunity with which these conflicts have unfolded has unleashed geopolitical anarchy, of which the proliferation of state-backed assassinations is just one manifestation. Lest we forget, extrajudicial murders, particularly of civilians or even quasi-combatants, violate international humanitarian law, though many states back their actions by framing them as ‘targeted killings’ or self-defence, and pointing out that international law does not clearly define assassinations.

India is certainly not alone in using assassinations as a means of........

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