“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must” is a quote that has come down through the ages from the Greek historian Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, written in 416 BC. It has come to encapsulate the “might makes right” philosophy in international relations and is embraced by some in the realist school of foreign policy.

Such realists are mostly right about how the world still works, but have a PR problem in today’s milieu of woke platitudes in international relations. Despite the fact that the balance of power and spheres of influence still shape the worldview of the vast majority of global leaders, some of these strong countries usually dress up the reasons for their military interventions in terms of democratization, humanitarian ends, or their national security. If America didn’t invent advertising, Madison Avenue certainly perfected it. So, because the American population has been inculcated into idealistic conceptions of government, military, and commercial motivations, such excuses are piled higher and deeper when the United States uses its military overseas, as it has more than any other country on the globe after World War II. Leaders of less democratic countries don’t have to be quite as coy with their........

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