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There is a particular kind of intellectual dishonesty that masquerades as principle and the American left has perfected it. It goes by either “international law” or “norms.” These phrases are invoked with religious fervor whenever the United States or one of its allies takes action in the world. They are conveniently forgotten whenever the enemies of civilization act. Watch the pattern long enough and the conclusion becomes unavoidable. The left’s commitment to international law is not a commitment at all. It is a weapon — one designed with the West in mind and aimed squarely at the United States. Consider what is happening now. Our military engagement against Iran has the usual coalition of academics, think-tankers, progressive politicians, antisemites and op-ed writers reaching for their pearls. “International law,” they scream. “The norms-based international order,” they wail. Many of them are calling the United States a “rogue nation” or a “state sponsor of terrorism” because the President of the United States decided it was time to end Iran’s regime of terror and quest for nuclear weapons. Where were these voices on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023? Hamas — a terrorist organization whose founding charter is a declaration of genocidal intent — launched the deadliest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust. They crossed a recognized international border. They slaughtered over 1,200 civilians. They kidnapped babies, elderly women and young men at a music festival. They filmed it. They celebrated it. The international law crowd did not rush out that morning to denounce Hamas. There were no emergency seminars on the laws of armed conflict. There were no demands for immediate condemnation from the UN Security Council. There was, instead, a noticeable pause — followed, in many quarters, by attempts to contextualize the attack, explain Hamas’s grievances and pivot immediately to concern about Israel’s forthcoming response. There were also marches in the streets and on college campuses, cheering on Hamas. The norms held no power that day. The law said nothing binding. When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022, it was — by any coherent reading of international law -- a textbook act of aggression. One sovereign nation invading another without provocation. Shelling apartment buildings. Targeting hospitals. Deporting Ukrainian children. The UN Charter exists precisely to prohibit this. The post-World War II order was constructed around the idea that this kind of naked territorial conquest was finished. Strongly worded resolutions and furrowed brows lecturing on international law did not stop Vladimir Putin. He laughed at the shattered norms and the carefully constructed legal architecture that the left treats as sacred scripture when the United States or Israel acts. International law, in practice, restrains only those who choose to be restrained by it. And the nations most likely to choose restraint are Western democracies. This is not an accident. Much of what passes for international legal consensus today was built in the decades after the Cold War, during a period of American dominance when the global left — including within American institutions — worked diligently to construct frameworks that would hem in American power. Treaties on the laws of war applied asymmetrically, where Hamas firing from hospitals is shrugged at, while Israel responding to it becomes a war crime. A UN Human Rights Council populated by nations with records that would embarrass a medieval warlord mock the very standards of international law the left insists are real. The architecture of international law was never neutral. It was designed to constrain the West while providing cover for everyone else. When the left screams about international law in the context of Iran — a regime that has spent almost 50 years funding terrorism, developing a nuclear weapons framework and calling for the destruction of Israel — they are not invoking principle. They are deploying a tool built to restrain the United States and Israel. Real principle would look like this: Outrage at Hamas for what it did and a willingness to say that international law means nothing if the most dangerous actors on earth face no consequences. Until the left applies its standards consistently, those of us watching are not obligated to take the standards seriously. They built a cage and labeled it “civilization.” But they only ever meant to put two nations inside it. But both, instead, are soaring unrestrained over Iran, liberating a people the left cares nothing about.

Media reports that the U.S. Attorney's office had ended the investigation into alleged misuse of the autopen by the former Biden administration are contradicted by a Fox News report.Critics of the Biden administration have suggested that former President Joe Biden's mental acuity deteriorated to the point that he would have no longer been able to properly authorize the use of the autopen at the end of his term.'These types of cases are tough. Executive privilege issues come into play.'While the alleged misuse of the autopen has been investigated since June 2025, the New York Times reported Thursday that U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had ended the effort. A CBS News report said two sources confirmed the decision to drop the criminal probe.However, a senior Justice Dept. source familiar with the matter told Fox News that the investigation is ongoing, despite admitting that Biden is unlikely to be indicted on any charges."These types of cases are tough. Executive privilege issues come into play," the official said."It's hard to imagine how [Biden] could be criminally liable for pardon power," the official added.On Thursday, Pirro offered a brief statement on the report, saying, "We cannot comment on ongoing investigations."The former president has vehemently denied the allegations and defended the use of the autopen under his administration."Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," Biden said in comments from June. "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false."RELATED: Ted Cruz says Biden accidentally undermined his own defense of autopen scandal A White House memorandum at the time called the "conspiracy" of the autopen "one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history."In February, Pirro also reportedly dropped the effort to indict six Democrats who appeared in a video calling on military members to deny following "unlawful orders" from the administration. The president excoriated the Democrats over the video he called "seditious" and even warned that the punishment for treason is execution. "It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime. There can be no other interpretation of what they said!" he said at the time.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Stringer/Getty ImagesSecret Agent Duško Popov, who also went by the codenames “Ivan” and “Tricycle.” “The name is Bond, James Bond.” Those words are some of the most widely recognizable in the history of film and literature. It’s how the martini-swilling, playboy secret agent created by British author Ian Fleming introduces himself to friends and foes alike. But one has to wonder if the phrase would have the same ring to it if Fleming had chosen to retain the name of the man who perhaps inspired the character more than any other: Serbian double agent Duško Popov. “The name is Popov, Duško Popov” may not exactly roll off the tongue. But even if he lacked a memorable catchphrase, World War II super-spy Duško Popov led a life that even James Bond might envy. Duško Popov’s Early Life Before Becoming A Wartime Spy Duško Popov was born in what is now Serbia in 1912 to an extremely wealthy family. His early years were spent on yachting trips along the Adriatic, attended along the way by his family’s servants. As he grew older, he was educated at some of the most prestigious schools in Europe, learning Italian, French, and German. Popov briefly spent some time in England after his father enrolled him in a prestigious preparatory school in Surrey. His English school career was cut short after he got into some trouble with a teacher for smoking a cigarette. Popov was caned. Deciding that he didn’t want to suffer the punishment again after he missed a detention, he grabbed the cane out of the teacher’s hands and snapped it in half. Back on the continent, Duško Popov finished high school and went to the University of Belgrade to study law. With his law degree in hand, Popov decided to move to Germany to pursue a doctorate and improve his German. There, he met Johann Jebsen. Like Popov, Jebsen came from a wealthy family and had sophisticated tastes. The pair immediately became fast friends. As Popov described their relationship, “[We were both] addicted to sports cars and sporting women, and had enough money to keep them both running.” Wikimedia CommonsA casino in Estoril, like the ones Popov frequented. Duško Popov had a way with women. While maybe not conventionally handsome, he had striking, heavy-lidded green eyes that some women apparently found irresistible. Cruising from club to club in a sports car, Popov and Jebsen quickly developed reputations as ladies’ men. But Popov and Jebsen shared something more serious in common, they both hated the Nazis who had recently seized control of the country. Popov was particularly vocal about his dissent, engaging in debates with Nazi students at the University of Freiburg. This earned him the attention of the state’s secret police. And in 1937, when he planned to leave the country to celebrate his graduation with a trip to Paris, Popov was arrested by the Gestapo. Jebsen immediately called Duško Popov’s father to tell him what had happened. Popov eventually spent eight days in Freiburg Prison before his father managed to get him released with the help of the Yugoslavian government. Popov was put on a train to Switzerland, where he found Jebsen waiting for him. Grateful for his help, Popov told Jebsen that if he could ever do anything to repay him, he would. Jebsen called in that favor in 1940, when he asked Popov to meet him at a Belgrade hotel. There, Jebsen informed him that he’d joined the German military intelligence service in spite of his hatred for the Nazis. It was the only way to avoid fighting on the front lines. Now, he wanted Popov’s help as an intelligence agent. While his friend might have thrown his lot in with the Nazis, Popov was less eager to work for the people who imprisoned him. Instead, he went to the British. The British told Popov to accept Jebsen’s offer, and report back everything the Germans told him. Duško Popov’s Dramatic Career As A Double Agent — And His Pivotal Run-In With Ian Fleming Tim Ockenden – PA Images/PA Images via Getty ImagesA Certificate of Registration for Duško Popov, also know as double agent “Tricycle.” Duško Popov was now working as a double agent. Over the next year, he took German requests for intelligence and fed them back prepared British disinformation. The Germans, thinking that they had a valuable asset in Popov, kept him supplied with cash to fund his playboy lifestyle. In every city he went to, he maintained a string of relationships with local women and even fellow spies. Popov quickly hatched a plan to take advantage of the fact that the Germans trusted him with their money. Codenamed Operation Midas (named after the mythical King Midas), the plan called for Popov to fleece the Germans for money to invest in building a spy ring in London, only to deliver it directly to MI6. The first phase of the plan went off without a hitch. The Germans, hearing about Popov’s idea to put spies in England, handed over $50,000. Now, he just needed to make the handoff to the British. One night in 1941, Duško Popov walked into a casino in Portugal with the entire sum. Along for the ride was Ian Fleming, an intelligence officer sent along to make sure that Popov didn’t do anything stupid with the money. You know, like bet it on a single hand of baccarat. But while in the casino, Popov heard a Lithuanian businessman loudly declaring that anyone who wanted to play baccarat at his table could bet any amount of money, and he would match it. The man’s attitude rubbed Popov the wrong way. And according to Popov, he also just wanted to “shake Fleming up.” Popov sat down at the man’s table and placed all $50,000 on the felt. The casino went quiet. Fleming’s face turned green at the thought that he was about to watch Popov blow the entire operation. The flustered businessman asked the dealer if the casino would back him in case he lost the money. After being told that they certainly couldn’t do that, he withdrew. Duško Popov cheerfully pulled the money off the table, complaining that the casino shouldn’t allow such irresponsible gamblers at their tables. It was, after all, “an annoyance to the serious players.” A similar scene would later play out in Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale. In the novel, Bond bankrupts a Russian agent at a high-stakes baccarat game. Many have suggested that Popov was the inspiration for the scene. Although Fleming, possibly due to laws protecting classified operations or possibly because Popov was simply embellishing his account, later offered a different version of the story in which he was personally playing a game at the casino against some Germans. How The Real-Life James Bond Was Involved With Both Pearl Harbor And D-Day RALPH GATTI/AFP/Getty ImagesDusko Popov later in life. After the incident at the casino, Duško Popov’s next assignment from the Germans was to set up a spy ring in the United States. According to Popov in a post-war interview, the Germans were especially interested in information about the Pearl Harbor Naval Base. He claimed to have passed along this information to the FBI, but Director J. Edgar Hoover killed the report due to a personal distaste for Popov. A few months after Popov made it to the US, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Most historians agree that the Nazi leadership had no idea that Japan was planning the attack. But Popov’s story raises an intriguing possibility that there was someone in German intelligence who knew about the plan. But nothing has ever been proven conclusively about who that someone might be. Whatever the case, the attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the US was now in the war. And the plan to eventually defeat the Nazis, Operation Overlord, required the work of every double agent the British had. Duško Popov was put to work convincing the Nazis that the landings at Normandy would actually be happening at Dieppe or Calais. He and other double agents did such a good job passing along false intelligence to the Nazis that, even after the landings began, the Nazis held back reserve divisions that might have tipped the balance against the Allies. They were sure that the landings at Normandy were simply a feint for the real invasion. With the end of the war in 1945, Duško Popov moved to France. In the 1970’s, he released a memoir about his life as a spy. But otherwise, he lived a life outside the public eye. Duško Popov died in 1981 due to the long-term effects of his heavy drinking and smoking. It’s interesting to think that if James Bond were a real person, his own lifestyle might produce the same result. Perhaps Popov simply lived and died just like his fictional counterpart. After this look at Duško Popov, read about Porfirio Rubirosa, another international man of intrigue. Then, learn about Britain’s Special Operations Executive and their clandestine missions during World War II. The post The Astonishing Story Of Dusko Popov, The World War II Intelligence Agent Who Helped Inspire 007 appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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