Iran US relations: Tehran demands the release of frozen assets upfront and adds Yemen conditions following the collapse of a prior agreement, hardening its stance against Washington in the ongoing Middle East conflict.
And just as long of a history of them being completely ignored with zero accountability. It just mollifies and tricks unsuspecting soldiers into engaging in more warfare.
Like, I actually broad agree with you on the idea that the laws of war can serve to sanitize warfare as a concept in the public mind. There’s a real danger that in creating these largely meaningless constraints for ourselves we make warfare seem more appealing as an option. “Our wars will be good wars, only bad people will get hurt.”
But “tricks unsuspecting soldiers into engaging in more warfare” is a take so bizarre I can barely parse it.
Do you think that soldiers just, like, group up in platoons, hold a quick vote and decide together to invade Iraq?
Wars are political decisions. They’re made by national governments, most of which are elected by the citizenry of those nations. Soldiers don’t decide to start wars, any more than they decide to end them. We do. The people. And we get to make that choice with the luxury of being largely isolated from its consequences, while our soldiers are forced to face many of those consequences head on.
I’m not gonna sit here and say that everyone who ever joined a military is a saint, but the idea that soldiers are the ones starting wars is just plainly absurd. Militaries don’t start wars, people start wars. All of us, collectively. We don’t get to shirk that responsibility.
War crimes are definitely a thing. With a long history of definition and, you know, multiple international agreements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_crime
And just as long of a history of them being completely ignored with zero accountability. It just mollifies and tricks unsuspecting soldiers into engaging in more warfare.
What a weird take.
Like, I actually broad agree with you on the idea that the laws of war can serve to sanitize warfare as a concept in the public mind. There’s a real danger that in creating these largely meaningless constraints for ourselves we make warfare seem more appealing as an option. “Our wars will be good wars, only bad people will get hurt.”
But “tricks unsuspecting soldiers into engaging in more warfare” is a take so bizarre I can barely parse it.
Do you think that soldiers just, like, group up in platoons, hold a quick vote and decide together to invade Iraq?
Wars are political decisions. They’re made by national governments, most of which are elected by the citizenry of those nations. Soldiers don’t decide to start wars, any more than they decide to end them. We do. The people. And we get to make that choice with the luxury of being largely isolated from its consequences, while our soldiers are forced to face many of those consequences head on.
I’m not gonna sit here and say that everyone who ever joined a military is a saint, but the idea that soldiers are the ones starting wars is just plainly absurd. Militaries don’t start wars, people start wars. All of us, collectively. We don’t get to shirk that responsibility.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_convicted_war_criminals
You think this is a gotcha?