[thechat] When is it time for war?

[Erik Mattheis]

Glad you're thinking about these things I already have, and will share 
my answers with brief explanations:

On Tuesday, March 25, 2003, at 06:49 PM, Bill Haenel wrote:
> When is war justified?

When the UN Security Council authorizes it. Justification for the 
simplicity of the answer, the diplomats in the UN are a lot smarter 
than me regarding International relations, and I trust their judgment 
based on the track record of the UN.

> Is it important to only wage war as a matter of self-defense, or is it
> okay to attack just because a nation believes it is in danger of being
> attacked?

It's even justified to fire the first shot if it's in self defense and 
an attack is imminent . By imminent, I mean situations like when a 
foreign military force refuses to leave territory over which you are 
sovereign.

>  Are there other circumstances under which war is okay?

Yes. For example, it was justified to join the war that resulted in the 
prosecution of Milosevic:
<http://www.un.org/icty/milosevic/>

It's also justified to aid another country in defending itself.

>  What is
> worth defending and what is worth attacking for?

Everything is worth defending if the defense is proportional.

What's worth attacking for, I'll again leave up to the UN Security 
Council.

> When is it necessary to
> stand down and hope for the best and when is it necessary to discuss 
> and
> apologize?

Well, a great example was the Cuban Missile crisis.
--
-/erik/
Pictures of Liberated Iraqis
<http://shockingelk.com/pictures/liberated_iraqis/>
(warning: pictures of dead or maimed people)
--