A superpower has immense rights but with those come crucial responsibilities. Upholding international rule of law and universal human values is part of a superpower’s job description. There can be no dilemma about the need, nay the necessity, for America to exert moral authority.

Hm. So, you want the world to abdicate some level of moral governance to an entity which itself lacks a moral compass?

Interesting idea. :-)

That said, as Mr Feldman notes, most people know “the essential truth that every human life is equally valuable.” And even “hard-core foreign policy realists… don’t have to be totally amoral”. Mr Feldman argues too for a powerful “moral intuition” to care and speak out about a heinous wrong and to demand a reckoning.

I would suggest that some of this has already occurred, which is why the rumors are that the Crown Prince is about to have his wings clipped a bit by the King. When you’re trying to enter the world community as an equal partner, and doing so by hosting major economic conferences….not having several key members of that world community not show up is a very big deal. People who think only in terms of measures like “sanctions” tend to miss this.