In the absence of an international arbitrator with teeth,
the nations of the world must at times have recourse to others in service to
the resolution of disputes—even longstanding ones. This, I submit, is a major
drawback to a world of sovereign nation-states, for rare is one that can
genuinely serve as an honest broker, hence with credibility to the disputants
rather than just one side. Conflicts of
interest all thus allowed, and even ignored as if they had no bearing. In the
context of the longstanding Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the United States has
been plagued with having to surmount the conflict between the interest of being
an ally of Israel and a neutral peacemaking with credible standing as such to
both sides.
The full essay is at "President Trump as a 'Neutral Guy."
For more on conflicts of interest, see Institutional Conflicts of Interest.