At each stage of history, your Eyewitness is pretty sure the folks then around felt they were quite “civilised”. And were better than those “barbarians in the past” who went around killing each other in futile wars. Like cavemen bopping folks on the head just to take their wives! But there you have it…a new war would break out and the same folks would willingly be mobilised to do their share of killing, pillaging and raping with gusto. Is it something hard wired in us?
Whatever it is, some smart ones decide if you can’t stop wars, you might as well rationalise some of them as “just wars”. Even Christian theologians like St Augustine and St Aquinas got into the act. Christians soldiers could now march to war confident that they were “doing the right thing”!! Remember those Crusades against those nasty Saracens “occupying” the Holy Land? Onward Christian soldiers marching off to war!!
Up to that time, the rules of the (war) game were: “ (1) the war must be declared openly by a proper sovereign authority (eg, the governing authority of the political community in question); (2) the war must have a just cause (eg, defence of the common good or a response to grave injustice); (3) the warring state must have just intentions (ie, it must wage the war for justice rather than for self-interest); and (4) the aim of the war must be the establishment of a just peace.
So, how do Putin’s actions since Feb 24 stack up against those rules – even with the first stipulation? First of all, we know that he’s insisting that what’s going on in the Ukraine isn’t even a “war”!! So, technically since he hasn’t actually declared war, he can keep a straight face and say he’s just clearing out some Nazis in a supposedly independent country!! Now your Eyewitness doesn’t know if Putin actually said it, but his supporters are asking “Isn’t this what the US did in Iraq against Saddam and those Weapons of Mass Destruction?”
But just in case, Putin’s covering his bases. He’s identified his “just cause”, “just intentions” and desire to establish a “just peace”!! Additionally, in modern times, extending the attempt to make “just wars” palatable, there have been two “Conventions” – Hague and Geneva – that added an element of realpolitik. They proposed three principles to govern conduct during war: (1) targets should include only combatants and legitimate military and industrial complexes; (2) combatants should not use unjust methods or weapons (eg, torture and genocide); and (3) the force used should be proportionate to the end sought.
So, we can now understand the investigation of “genocide” by the ICC!
…and famines
We all know “war is hell”. But sometimes “peace” can be just as bad or even worse!! Take the case of Ukraine which had been incorporated into the USSR in 1922. When Stalin took over, he decided to do away with the tri-sectoral economy. He “collectivized” agriculture and sent in his cadres to run mega-farms on behalf of the State!! The Ukraine had been the breadbasket of the USSR with its steppes/prairies producing wheat like no tomorrow!
All of that went to the dogs by 1932-33 when the Ukraine was plunged into what they call the “Holodomor” – death by hunger!! Over three million persons – more than half of them children perished. Horrifyingly, there were thousands of documented cases of cannibalism – even of their own children!! But let’s not get too upset with Stalin alone. “Civilised” British PM Churchill precipitated the Bengal famine of 1943 with three million deaths when he shipped grain out for his war effort!!
He said the Indians were breeding like rabbits anyway!!
…and punishment
As mentioned above, the International Criminal Court is investigating whether Russia is violating the rules of war. Thing is, Russia, Ukraine and the US are all not members of the ICC and refuse to accept its jurisdiction!
