In the end, I am confident that Putin will lose the war, and probably his office and possibly his life.
But let us now speak of war crimes.
Because that is exactly what is happening - the Russian Army is perpetrating massive war crimes against civilians, and the Ukrainian soldiers they have taken prisoner. As more evidence arises, we may find these crimes fit the definition of genocide - right now, the term is being bandied about, but Al Jezeera reports that some analysts are saying that, as horrible as these killings are, more investigation is needed as to whether they constitute genocide. Here's the link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/6/ukraine-as-russia-faces-genocide-charge-experts-urge-caution
Of course, whether it does or does not fit a specific definition, children are still dead. Civilians are still dead.
Here's my point: People do not fight wars. Governments do. The Putin government illegally attacked an adjoining sovreign nation, and is now perpetrating mass killings in this illegal war. It has disrupted the lives of millions, put kinks in the supply chain, and is affecting the world economy.
I have always wondered what is the difference between the Nazis who were tried at Nuremberg, the criminals in W's administration (Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, and W himself), and now these Russians.
Think this through with me:
Nuremberg: The world was justifiably outraged at the Holocaust and the atrocities the Nazis committed. And it does make you want to vomit when you hear the stories. The tack we took there was that we did not accept 'I was only following orders' as an excuse, and convicted the Nazis from their leadership down to the meanest camp guard. No excuse.
Iraq and Afghanistan: Our shock and awe campaign killed God knows how many Iraqi and Afghan civilians - the drone attacks, the supposedly 'surgical' strikes. Later we found the Bush administration lied to us about WMD in Iraq as an excuse to go take over their oil fields. I have never understood why we were in Afghanistan. But our leaders were NEVER held to account for atrocities, and only a very few soldiers were convicted of criminal behavior. Is this because we are so very powerful, and so able to hold ourselves to different standards?
Ukraine: People on this thread are saying the Russian soldiers are animals, monsters, and so they well may be. When the time comes to try many of them for their crimes, will we judge them as we did the Germans at Nuremberg - no excuse, down to the meanest private soldier?
Because look at what has happened to this country over the last decades - we have drifted to the right, and now have substantial numbers of the American people calling for these very same atrocities - against Jews, Muslims, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and certainly women. I wonder how many Republicans - sane ones - have questioned these things, and then went ahead and followed orders?
So here's the rhetorical question: If you were in a position where you would suffer hard consequences - imprisonment or even execution - if you did not follow an order to kill a bunch of civilians, would you have the courage to disobey and suffer the consequences, or would you go ahead and follow the order, hating yourself more and more over time until you just got numb?
Perhaps it is time for our species to ban war.
In fact, maybe it is time for us to begin planning forward AS THE HUMAN SPECIES, and not as nations.
You think?
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