War is inevitably a crime against humanity

It takes only one side to start a war.

War does not end until the instigator is hopelessly defeated.

The two major contemporary wars were both started by one side, and they will not finally end until the instigators —  Putin and Hamas—  are hopelessly defeated.

 Well-intentioned comments and urgings from outsiders are simply whistling in the wind.

Asking Ukraine not to attack Russia itself and thereby “escalate the conflict” misunderstands Putin.

Asking Israel to pursue the war in “humane” fashion misunderstands warfare. It makes as much sense as it would have in World War II to urge the Allies to carry on without doing damage to innocent women, children, and other civilians throughout German-occupied Europe.

The stark difference between now and World War II is that television shows the whole world in real time the sickening things now happening in Gaza; whereas the whole world did not see in real time the same sickening things being done to innocent women, children, and other civilians throughout German-occupied Europe; for example, in the major city of Dresden, which was literally razed to the ground; and in the Pacific War, which had also been started by one side, we did not see in real time what happened on the ground in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

How outsiders could actually help along “humanitarian” lines unfortunately brings to mind only fantasies; for example, that a consortium of nations would try to evacuate all civilians from Gaza; or that all countries hosting operatives of Hamas would imprison them; or that all Islamic and Arab countries would publicly declare their opposition to and disapproval of Hamas.

Of course it goes against the grain to accept that outsiders are helpless, but that happens to be the case. Each side in the conflict could be strengthened or weakened by provision of support or by diminishing of support, for instance by Iran or the United States; but that would only shorten or lengthen the conflict — and withdrawing support would probably lengthen rather than shorten it.

An end will and can only come when one side actually gives up or becomes unable to continue fighting or resisting.

Of course it is frustrating to acknowledge that there is no point in devising or suggesting what a desirable end result might be: something as equitable as possible, as feasible as possible, a situation in which the largest possible number of people, families, and groups are able to live in stable conditions; presumably some sort of “two-state solution” in which each state is democratic, stable, and on good and productive interactions with the other state.

Present circumstances in the United States and much of Europe suggest that it is far from easy to establish such a stably democratic society in which there is no stark poverty or inequity at all. Although the so-called “Scandinavian Model” might seem to approach such desirability, it is far from obvious that it could be reproduced in countries with very different histories, geographies, demographics, and natural resources.

In any case, the instigators of the conflicts are simply not rational actors. They are not interested in any rational, equitable, moderate, solution.

Putin wants only that Ukraine disappear as a sovereign entity and become a part of Russia.

Hamas wants only that Israel should disappear.

The “Scientific Revolution” and the so-called “Enlightenment” were very far from global phenomena.