President Joe Biden condemned by the move by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, saying that there was “no equivalence” between that country’s actions and those of Hamas. Earlier today, the ICC issued a legal report in which a panel of international law experts supported a prosecutor’s conclusion that there […]
  • @[email protected]
    1•6 months ago

    I don’t have much time to continue this conversation with you (and I’ll ignore the attempts at belittling my stance), but I will just add that Liberalism, Idealism, etc are really only relevant when the other side(s) are also abiding by those norms. As soon as one side pursues Realist actions (like Bibi, Hamas, or Putin), then the only response is to match their force.

    Also:

    realism underscores the competitive and conflictual nature of global politics

    realism asserts that the dynamics of the international arena revolve around states actively advancing national interests and prioritizing security

    realism argues that states operate in a realm devoid of inherent justice, where ethical norms may not apply

    each of the parties choose to protect their own self-interests at the expense of the other participant

    This illustrates how a realist state might interact with another state; whether to protect its own resources or risk everything to achieve its goals

    Just to try to clarify my reasoning on even bringing this up - I’m not trying to justify individual soldiers’ actions in a specific conflict. I’m trying to make it clear that in state vs. state conflicts, what you would typically consider to be norms go out the window as each will prioritize their security and power. Thus, when one that is weaker attacks another that is stronger, you should expect an overwhelming response

    • @[email protected]
      1•6 months ago

      That’s not true at all. In a Counter Insurgency environment against a group like HAMAS it’s even more important not to match them. You kill them by killing their ideas. And you do that by being demonstrably better so they can’t recruit anymore.

      And with Russia you don’t do it either. You want the prisoners for their information and because you can win fights easier if they know they can surrender. That doesn’t change just because Russia decided to commit war crimes.

      You’re still stuck in the pop science idea of Realism being some macho do anything ideology. Even as you quote from the realist facet of the modern theory of using all 4 schools. There’s a reason the United States, EU, and China haven’t pursued pure realism. Israel isn’t going to suddenly make it work. And in many ways they’ve already lost this war. They’ve destroyed their international reputation and there will be economic repercussions for them at the very least. At most, they’ve opened the door to a single state solution just based on their public treatment of Palestine.