Delusional attempt to sanitize war.

 WAR WITH RULES IS AN ILLUSION

WITHOUT DEFINITE CONCLUSION, THERE IS NO PEACE

We continuously hear accusations of war crimes and the breaking of the rules of war. During and after WW 1 there was an attempt to sanitize war by enacting rules that should be followed in war. This may make people feel better and give people in suits behind desks the feeling of righteousness and fairness, but to those who are laying in the mud next to their dead comrades, rules are indeed an illusion that is only enforced by the winner of a war. On the battlefield, survival is all that is relevant and it is by any means available.

We hear that it is unlawful to target schools, hospitals and churches, so any enemy considering surviving will attempt to hide in such places and then attack his enemy hoping he may not respond. 

When a combatant is losing he will hope for a ceasefire, and armistice or some other opportunity to rearm, enlist recruits, or persuade allies to come to his rescue.

Germany was persuaded to sign an armistice in WW1 with a proposed peace plan, then after a year the terms were changed and directly led to the WW2. The result was far worse than WW1.

Recently several nations arranged the Minx accords to stop the conflict in Ukraine and then intentionally used the time to arm Ukraine to fight with Russia.

We see attempts to end war without real conclusions, no winner, no loser, no change of circumstances. It seems it just postpones the inevitable conclusion to some time in the future. It is beginning to appear that those times maybe a thing of the past.

The Israeli/Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for 70 years. The partition of Korea another 70 years. The cold war with Russia seems to be very lucrative and still ongoing. Conclusions have been either unobtainable or have been intentionally abstained from for political or economic reasons.There is no conclusion in sight.

WW2 was the last conflict that was concluded, there were winners and losers, very clearly. Peace followed for the next 70 years. In history, war has always been horrific, always lots of suffering, usually until that generation has been exhausted and had enough bloodletting and misery. Eventually the next generation or maybe 2, forget and find war more acceptable, especially if they can make rules to make it less horrific. 

If the wars that are simmering on the horizon become reality, there will very likely be no rules. There is even the possibility of no winners, just losers. One must wonder if we are about to enter the era of conclusions to the long build up of economic, political and social strife.