The Russian bombardment of apartment buildings, schools and hospitals and the mass slaughter of civilians has helped mobilize sympathy and military support on behalf of Ukraine. But in the long run, the emphasis on war crimes poses a dilemma.
All the global lecturing and lawyer posturing will likely have little effect on Putin and his coterie of psychopathic minions who will most likely never face justice in court. Plus, they have the strategic advantage of essentially telling the Ukrainians, “We can bomb your cities. but you can’t bomb ours.” It’s like Hitler being able to bomb London with no fear that bombs would fall on Berlin.
In the worst-case scenario, a delusional Putin may put the war crimes standard to the ultimate test: He can nuke London, but the British won’t commit the war crime of nuking Moscow.
All the global lecturing and lawyer posturing will likely have little effect on Putin and his coterie of psychopathic minions who will most likely never face justice in court. Plus, they have the strategic advantage of essentially telling the Ukrainians, “We can bomb your cities. but you can’t bomb ours.” It’s like Hitler being able to bomb London with no fear that bombs would fall on Berlin.
In the worst-case scenario, a delusional Putin may put the war crimes standard to the ultimate test: He can nuke London, but the British won’t commit the war crime of nuking Moscow.
