Spartan Spirit - Best for the West - Episode 5: War, and War in the Ukraine
War and War in the Ukraine Podcast Notes
War and war in the Ukraine is particularly pertinent to Western Cultures, because, we need to remember that a basic tenet of Western Society is the promotion of democracy and individual rights.
Ask yourself this question: If the West isn’t promoting democracy and individual rights for the Ukraine, what does it say about the state of Western Society?
What is war?
· AC Grayling’s book, titled, “War.”
· Grayling’s view: War is something nations deliberately do to each other.
War is the application of force, economics or some other effect (eg, cyber attacks), against an organisation/nation to achieve strategic aims.
Why do wars start?:
· Professor Matthew Jackson of Stanford University and Massimo Morelli in “The Reasons for Wars”.
· Wars are between rational actors with two under-pinning principles: Costs of war cannot be overwhelmingly high. There must be some point of dispute that can’t be solved some other way. (stanford.edu)
· The points of dispute can be many, but here are some general ones: economic, religious, political or ideological reasons.
· War will continue until one side has emerged victorious, or the situation has changed so that the costs of continued conflict have become overwhelmingly high.
Early philosophers coined the phrase “just war”.
· In the 4th Century AD, St Augustine introduced the term ‘Just War’ to describe wars that were loosely sanctioned by the Church and Church-supported state.
· St Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century said that a war is Just if it is sanctioned by an appropriate authority (say a King), waged for good purpose, and if its ultimate aim is peace.
‘Just’ conduct of war: introduced the notions of restraint, morality, proportionality, avoiding civilian casualties, and the better treatment of prisoners or people who were no longer in combat.
The modern principles of war and the modern mechanisms for controlling wars and the conduct of wars (as much as that is even possible) are captured in a variety of international protocols, such as the Geneva conventions and the UN charter.
· The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties that are designed to protect noncombatants, civilians, and prisoners of war. The treaties were negotiated in Geneva, Switzerland, between 1864 and 1977.
· The United Nations is the organisation established after WW2 to be the central point of achieving three purposes:
To maintain (and even enforce) international peace and security
To develop friendly relations among nations and to strengthen universal peace;
To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of economic, social, cultural, humanitarian and human rights.
(Chapter I: Purposes and Principles (Articles 1-2) | United Nations)
If the West is all about democracy, rights, the rule of law and only supporting ‘Just Wars’ and ‘Just conduct of War’, why is the Ukraine alone in having to fight off Russian aggression?
More specifically, what is the West doing to use UN provisions or independent provisions to support the Ukraine.
Russian-Ukrainian war:
· Ukrainian and Russian history is interwoven.
o The Story of Russia, by Orlando Figes.
o University of Rochester’s Matthew Lenoe. Fact-checking Putin’s claims that Ukraine and Russia are ‘one people’ : News Center (rochester.edu)
From Russia’s perspective, you might draw a long bow and determine that this is a Just War.
From the Western perspective, you probably would say, well, the Russian’s certainly didn’t give negotiations a chance, therefore the attack was not ‘just’.
Summary of what’s happened in the war:
· The UN and the war in Ukraine: key information (unric.org)
· Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children may qualify as genocide - Atlantic Council
· https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_37750.htm? :
Very similar to the pattern established when Russia took the Crimea and When Russia attacked the Ukrainian navy in 2018.
The West continues to do more of the same and has not sought to join the Ukraine in what is arguably a legitimately “just War”.
Why not? From NATO’s web page:
“NATO’s actions are defensive, designed not to provoke conflict but to prevent conflict. The Alliance has a responsibility to ensure that this war does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, which would be even more devastating and dangerous. Enforcing a no-fly zone would bring NATO forces into direct conflict with Russia. This would significantly escalate the war and lead to more human suffering and destruction for all countries involved.”
NATO - Topic: NATO's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
Rand published a detailed analysis of how the war is going and might end. https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PEA2510-1.html#fnb20
The only solution that appears to give the Ukrainians any hope is to evict the Russians from the Ukraine by force, but that seems unlikely because no one appears to be willing to help the Ukrainians do that.
For example, there was an article in Forbes.com written by Mark Cancian who listed 5 scenarios that might spark an all-out war between the West and Russia, perhaps giving the Ukrainians some hope of winning. Five Paths To War Between The U.S. And Russia (forbes.com)
Another article about how this war might end:
Matthew Sussex, writing in The Conversation, “ Russia’s Ukraine invasion won’t be over soon – and Putin is counting on the West’s short attention span (theconversation.com) “
In other words, Russia can simply wait out the West because this is a war of attrition and in a war of attrition, there is pretty much zero chance that the Ukraine will defeat Russia and there is every chance that the Ukrainians will eventually be forced to sue for peace, probably by sacrificing their eastern regions.
Put another way, So long as Russia wants to keep fighting, it can do so. The same can’t be said of the Ukraine.
In summary, the Ukraine is screwed.
And, I think that stinks. This is a Just War – we should act.
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, speaking in New Delhi, India, June 5, 2023:
“Democracies must now rally together around not just our common interests, but also our shared values. Preserving and protecting the freedoms that are essential to peace and prosperity will require vigorous leadership…”