War Crimes

Vladimir Putin has found himself living out Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now.”

In every way, Putin has perpetrated a conflict characterized by war crimes against Ukraine.

Since Azerbaijan’s aggressive war against Artsakh in 2020, considerable damage has deliberately been caused by the government of Azerbaijan against the Armenian cultural and religious heritage in Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian republic in the South Caucuses.

Tolerating the crimes by Azerbaijan is no different from tolerating crimes of ISIS. Signing deals with Azerbaijan is akin to signing deals with ISIS.

The same ideology that motivated the 1913-23 Armenian genocide motivates Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s aggressions against Armenians, Greeks and other Christians.

The BBC should bring back the skepticism of pacifism that Doctor Who used to have.

The war in Ukraine is proving to be a tragic proving ground for trends that will almost certainly be replicated in other twenty-first-century warfare. Decentralized decision-making, the targeting of population centers, tactical speed in decision-making, the rise of artificial intelligence, vital intelligence sharing, and the strategic impact of moral and spiritual injury demonstrate the boundaries for future combat.

When we bandy about “war crimes,” “assassination,” and other terms, we ought to consider what we are talking about and, if appropriate, what the available mechanisms for justice are.

Mass moral atrocities and genocidal tendencies have not lessened with the supposed end of the Cold War. If anything, they have increased.