Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Triumph of Death, circa 1562
What is a state that, ignoring all forms of law, methodically murders or kidnaps the leaders of states it arbitrarily declares to be its enemies? Nevertheless, this is what is happening with the approval or embarrassed silence of European countries. This means that we are living in a time when the state has thrown off its legal masks and is now acting according to its true nature, which is ultimately terror. It is likely, however, that this extreme situation is literally just that, namely, that the removal of the masks coincides with the end of the state form, without which a new politics will not be possible.
Giorgio Agamben: State and terror
What is a state that, ignoring all forms of law, methodically murders or kidnaps the leaders of states it arbitrarily declares to be its enemies? Nevertheless, this is what is happening with the approval or embarrassed silence of European countries. This means that we are living in a time when the state has thrown off its legal masks and is now acting according to its true nature, which is ultimately terror. It is likely, however, that this extreme situation is literally just that, namely, that the removal of the masks coincides with the end of the state form, without which a new politics will not be possible.
Quodlibet, 02/03/2026