Eli5: If war crimes can be punished, why isn’t all war punished?
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How are you going to punish war?
By inducing more war.
And that’s exactly what happens in wars that are relevant to the corresponding world.
There are trade threatments and often (as an example) the US invades countrys that misbehave.
The answer lies in the senselessness of your question. It would be like asking “if financial crimes can be punished, why isn’t all financial punished?”
Very few people have a good opinion about “war” but it’s not a crime in itself, at least not by any court of law. War has its rules though, so there are actions defined as “criminal”.
I dont know the literal answer to this, but I hope you’ll accept a philosophical one.
I think it’s easy to view all war as something to be punished but ultimately war and its outcomes have shaped the lives we all live today. War prevents fascism, frees countries, stops invaders…
Obviously the other side of that are malicious actors, instigators, fascist, etc…but not all wars are so black and white.
Who would you “punish” if you aren’t clear who the “bad guys” are? If both sides feel as if they are fighting to protect their ideals?
War is unfortunately a messy, gray, necessary evil.
There are legitimate reasons to go to war. Just look at Ukraine. They have all the right in the world to defend their land and be at war with Russia, the invader and aggressor.
War crimes only get punished if someone has the might to enforce the punishment.
If all war is punished you remove the ability to enforce the punishment for all wars, it’s a paradox.
It’s also often very difficult to prove every single war crime as the administration above the soldiers is covering things up. Things need to be extremely widespread and blatant to lead to something.
Some countries just don’t get punished for war crimes because they refuse to recognize the international tribunal and it is not practical, feasible or too much of a diplomatic crisis to sue and punish their citizens. For example, Russia and the United States.
NAZI scientists were secretly taken to America. They distracted the people with talk of alien crashes. The NAZIs helped the Americans make better Rockets, and who could forget that other Europeans already helped America develop nuclear weapons. So, you can suck on your war crime charges all you want until you grow up and become a real country with nuclear capabilities. Otherwise kick the boot like we’ve been doing since America proved they would kill without caring much.
There are competing ideas. This is even before the complexities of actually prosecution and punishment can be discussed.
One major idea is the concept of sovereignty. This does not mean that a sovereign government can do as it pleases to another sovereign government – but it is fundamentally difficult to resolve. Every sovereign government reserves their right to act in their best interest. What balances this are potential retaliations and the costs involved.
On the matter of complexity. What body has the right to impose “their” definition of what constitutes a war crime, how are such acts to be judged and finally how are “punishments” enforced. Every one of these are hugely complex when it comes to things like war involving different countries.
Certainly “war crimes” cannot be judged on social media popularity or what activists claim or by who considers themselves the “victims”.
Wars DO get punished. Countries get sanctioned, lose territory, pay reparations. Russia had its dollar reserves frozen at the early stages of the war. North Korea has a litany of sactions. Germany (post WWI) got hit by the Treaty of Versailles.
Look up Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. Laws don’t exist for the sake of punishment but to regulate life while there is no conflict.
International law was established to create a basis for the relationship nations have after they are done fighting. Would you trust a neighbor to uphold their contracts in peacetime who committed unspeakable atrocities towards you? Or would you rather trust someone who followed an agreed upon moral guideline?
Sometimes, war is inevitable. If we punish all war just as harshly as we punish war crimes, why would a warring army refrain from committing war crimes?
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