On War

We are universally horrified by the atrocity of war in Ukraine. As we should be. But we should be neither surprised nor complacent.

War and its attendant atrocities are as old as our species, in fact, older. Savagery by one group of primates against another is well documented. Birds, and even insects, carry out massive raids against rival colonies, with extermination as the goal and suffering seen as someone else’s problem.

So when Putin appointed the Butcher of Syria to be commander in chief of his flagging neo-Holodomor (https://holodomor.ca/resource/holodomor-basic-facts/) , we should not have been surprised. Marquess of Queensberry Rules apply to boxing, not to Putin’s war.

Because of the monstrosity of war, we have sometimes (but not always) injected rules of conduct, perhaps mostly as insurance that if things go badly you can hope for some small mercy. Whether we call it chivalry or honour, we pay at least lip service to certain rules– white flags, children, and churches, for example, are sometimes given deference.

To limit the savagery at least to some extent, our best bet is to hope for adherence to agreed rules of war– you don’t abuse prisoners, you don’t attack health facilities or schools, and so on. These rules are simply an extension of the Rule of Law, that is, we are all subject to and agree to abide by certain notions of mutual respect and deference.

So it’s not surprising, then, that societies who do not respect the Rule of Law are the same ones who conduct the most savage warfare. If the princes and potentates have no regard for their own people, why would they show tender mercy toward strangers?

It’s exactly for this reason that we must do our utmost to respect and uphold the Rule of Law in our own societies. Those who scoff at due process and the sanctity of elections are the same as those who would terrorize, maim, and murder if allowed to do so. If they’ll do it at home, they’ll do it to their neighbours.

It’s a pity that we had to wait for a war against nice white people who dress fashionably and drive SUVs and shop at IKEA, but finally the West has stopped looking away from the unspeakable. Perhaps we will also now find the courage to speak up against those in our own society who covet the kind of power enjoyed by Putin and his thugs.

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