The Emulation of Evil

War is unjust by definition. They all are, regardless of their causes and the arguments that accompany them. At least for what matters most, such as the innocent victims, the young people forced to risk or lose their lives, their families and friends, and the future of society as a whole. But it is only fair to defend oneself against an attack, as Ukraine did against Putin, in an effective act of collective courage. Israel's initial response to Hamas' penetration of its territory and the extermination of the civilian population in its path was just.

Even if we are right for defensive war, it is hard to believe that an entire war can be waged and won without exceeding the bounds of justice, but this is the obligation that professional armies and, above all, the civil power they serve must fulfill. The International Criminal Court's investigations have overwhelming documentation on the criminal behavior of Russian troops in Ukraine, but Ukrainians have also been involved in criminally reprehensible acts that are being investigated.

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Just as important as the reasons and methods should be just, so should the peace that is later imposed be just. A war that gives rise to a worse regime will not be just or legitimate, instead of peace, stability and decent living conditions for all, including the defeated.

The second Iraq war was unjust from the start, with false evidence fabricated about weapons of mass destruction to justify it. It was because of the way it was fought, signified by the tortures of Abu Ghraib and the regime of infinite detention at Guantánamo. And then because of the miserable outcome of George W. Bush's victory for the country and the entire region. Afghanistan, which may have been just in its origin in response to the Al Qaeda attacks on 11/<>, merged with Iraq's in injustices and surpassed it in post-war misery, with the return of the Taliban and the catastrophic exit of the United States.

It is difficult for anyone today to question the just war of the Allies against Nazi-fascist totalitarianism, its militarism, its genocidal racism and anti-Semitism, or to challenge the justice and success of the post-World War II period in Germany and Japan, but it is clear that the methods employed were not always just. No one today dares to declare the British air raids that destroyed German cities or the American atomic weapon dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be just.

These are very vivid antecedents, in which Russia shields itself to justify the current brutality of its wars. And so does Israel when it refers to the 11/<> attacks and the Holocaust of the Jewish people to demand a free hand in the siege on Gaza and the unlimited bombing of its civilian population. When the time of war was thought to be over, the worst examples of the past return as a model to follow, now and in the future. It is the emulation of evil, in the name of moral clarity, no less.

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