Sta Hungry Stay Foolish

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

A blog by Leon Oudejans

Can starting a war ever be justified?

I had assumed the answer would be a simple ‘No’ but I was wrong. An archived BBC article states this:

“A war is only just if it is fought for a reason that is justified, and that carries sufficient moral weight. The country that wishes to use military force must demonstrate that there is a just cause to do so. The main just cause is to put right a wrong. Sometimes a war fought to prevent a wrong from happening may be considered a just war.” (BBC)

Clearly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine will never qualify for the above criteria of a ‘just war’.

Why would any democratically elected government not have the (legal and moral) right to choose its own course, like a request for a future membership of EU and/or NATO? A group protects the individual.

Can the UK prevent Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales from exiting the UK and join the EU?

I’m not sure if I agree with the reasoning in the BBC article. It seems to me that you’ve already ‘lost’ whenever you need force to support your arguments. Hence, I doubt that starting a war can ever be justified.

To me, the various Crusades, “a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period” (1095-1410), did not constitute a ‘just war’. The Reconquista (711-1492) in Spain, following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711, was about fighting back invaders.

The American invasion of Iraq (2003) might have qualified if there had been weapons of mass destruction.

Russia tried finding pretexts for starting a ‘just war’ but the Americans won the information war from Russia – this time (eg, Bloomberg, the Hill).

I wonder if any reader of this blog can give (me) an example of starting a ‘just war’.

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

A quote from Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), American writer and professor of biochemistry

Justified & Ancient (1991) by the KLF featuring Tammy Wynette (1942-1998)
artists, artist, lyrics, video, Wiki-1, Wiki-2, Wiki-3

Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.

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