Violence vs True Power, NYT quote

 ====

Power, Arendt argued, is collective, consensual and relational. Violence, by contrast, is instrumental and coercive, its strength evaporating the moment the threat is evaded or withdrawn. “Violence can always destroy power,” Arendt wrote. “Out of the barrel of a gun grows the most effective command, resulting in the most instant and perfect obedience. What never can grow out of it is power.”

            --Lydia Polgreen
             https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/opinion/trump-xi-iran-war.html  

=====