Living With Peace Enforced by Force

 Is this, too, a symbol of MAGA?
America remains overwhelming in its power—and the world is being reshaped under that weight.

 

Reports say the United States launched attacks on Iran and killed figures close to the core of the regime.
If strikes are carried out without any formal declaration of war, legal arguments will follow. But I’m no longer sure how much those arguments matter in a world that increasingly moves by sheer momentum and capability.

This is an operation justified by America’s own logic. How other countries truly interpret it is still hard to read. An emergency UN Security Council session is expected to bring some clarity, but I doubt it will change the course of events.

For Japan, the most immediate anxiety is the safety of the Strait of Hormuz. If energy transport becomes unstable, fuel prices may rise. That, in turn, could revive the argument that Japan has no choice but to lean on nuclear power—casting the slow pace of reactor restarts in a harsher light.

I can’t help thinking of the last war, when Japan was thoroughly crushed by America. Whether it was necessary to fight on through Okinawa and even the atomic bombings—no one can truly know now. History offers no “what if.” And yet, sometimes I imagine that even if Japan had never started the Pacific War, we might eventually have been forced into submission somewhere, somehow, by a greater power.

America is vast, wealthy, and formidable. It attracts talent, builds rational systems, and protects freedom—while also carrying division and dissatisfaction at home. Still, Americans chose Trump as president. And under him, higher tariffs and hardline interventions—toward Venezuela, toward Iran—signal that the global order is shifting in real time.

Trump seems to embody a certain lesson: this is how power is used. During the campaign he survived an assassination attempt by a narrow margin; at times I wonder what the world would look like if that shot had landed. But terrorism must never be justified. I’m glad his life was spared.

And yet, I cannot easily say whether it is right to subdue other nations by force. If someone answers, “Talks never worked—this was the only way,” it becomes strangely difficult to argue back.

Peace is not preserved simply by staying silent.
Sometimes peace is maintained—perhaps even “won”—through force.

But whose peace is it?
And what is “peace,” really?