Striking Power. John Yoo

of some, broadening the use of force will not lead to more war. It should allow the international system to reduce the number of more harmful conflicts by allowing nations to communicate their intentions more clearly, which should produce more settlement of disputes without resorting to war.

      The U.N. Charter Rules

      As Syria shows, the world is returning to the idea that the international system allows punitive measures. This runs counter to the view, embraced by most specialists in international law, that the U.N. Charter banished the idea of punishing states for misconduct. In 2013, for example, Gabriella Blum concluded that “the moral rhetoric of state ‘crime and punishment’ has been excised from the lexicon of international law” so that “coercive action against states can no longer be justified by any punitive urge but instead must be couched in terms of regulatory or preventive action.”⁷¹ Blum questioned the value of this shift, even as a means of reducing resort to force in international affairs. But she still saw the renunciation of punishment as the culmination of long-developing trends, already visible before the establishment of the United Nations.