In Support of Ukraine

Column
Written By A Reader

It’s hard to keep up, day to day, with the atrocities that Russian President Vladimir Putin is committing in Ukraine. He has violated internationally recognized tenets of both Just War Theory (Jus ad Bellem – the justification for war) and the Laws of War (Jus in Bello – just conduct in war).

Just War Theory

According to Just War Theory, to be justified, a war must meet the following criteria: 

  • Comparative justice: The injustice suffered by one party must significantly outweigh that suffered by the other.

  • Legitimate authority: Only duly constituted public authorities may use deadly force or wage war.

  • Right intention: Force may be used only in a truly just cause and solely for that purpose; correcting a suffered wrong is considered a right intention, while material gain or maintaining economies is not.

  • Probability of success: Arms may not be used in a futile cause or in a case where disproportionate measures are required to achieve success.

  • Proportionality: The overall destruction expected from the use of force must be outweighed by the good to be achieved. 

  • Last resort: Force may be used only after all peaceful and viable alternatives have been seriously tried and exhausted.

Anyone who has even casually observed what is happening in Ukraine would find it difficult to justify this war on any one of these points.

The Laws of War

The Laws of War are governed by, for example, the Geneva Conventions. On its “War & Law” page, the International Committee of the Red Cross provides detailed information about the Laws of War and offers this summary:

“International humanitarian law is a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects people who are not or are no longer participating in hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare.”

War Crimes

On March 15, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution condemning Putin as a war criminal in what Reuters called “a rare show of unity in the deeply divided Congress.” More recently, Radio Free Europe reports that the U.S. military has “accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in their bloody invasion of Ukraine.”

Atrocities committed in Ukraine include bombing hospitals and maternity wards and using cluster bombs on a preschool. 

Russian Disinformation Campaigns

Long ago, U.S. intelligence services defined the seven components of Soviet (now Russian) disinformation campaigns: 

  1. Look for divisions in the target society (economic, demographic, linguistic, ethnic, etc.) that you can exploit.  

  2. Create a big, bold lie—something so outrageous that no one could possibly believe it was made up.  

  3. Wrap that lie around a kernel of truth.  (As Ben Franklin said, “Half the truth is often a great lie.”) 

  4. Conceal your hand, making it seem like the story came from somewhere else.  (Compare, for example, the third-party technique common in marketing and public relations.)

  5. Find a “useful idiot,” someone who will unwittingly take the message and push it to the target audience.

  6. If your disinformation is exposed, deny, deny, deny.  

  7. Play the long game; eventually, your efforts will have an impact, like the steady drip of water on a rock.  

In the 1980s, the Soviet KGB used these techniques in “Operation INFEKTION” to convince much of the world, including many Americans, that the United States had developed HIV/AIDS as part of a biological-weapons program.  

Vladimir Putin joined the KGB in 1975 and served there until 1991 went the Soviet Union was dissolved.  In 1998, he was appointed to the Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB’s successor, where he briefly served as director.  He is well versed in disinformation campaigns, which he has employed in attempting to justify his invasion of Ukraine.  

For example, Putin has claimed that the purpose of the invasion was to “de-nazify” Ukraine. Odd, then, that the journal Foreign Policy reports, “Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin offered ‘denazification’ as a flimsy pretext for his invasion of Ukraine, Russian missiles hit the Jewish hub of Uman, Ukraine.”

Putin has also claimed that Western governments are funding biological-warfare research in Ukraine. In fact, the highly regarded journal Science reports, “In 2020, German researchers began to collaborate with Ukrainian colleagues to survey bat parasites, mostly bloodsuckers such as ticks and fleas. They wanted to know what kinds of bacteria the bats in Ukraine harbored—a first step in identifying any potential threats to human health.”

What You Can Do

Several weeks ago, I was carrying a sign that said “Stand with Ukraine,” and someone asked me if I was Ukrainian.  I was born in the USA, and my ancestors are from England, Scotland, and Ireland.  But a threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere, so today, everyone who stands for democracy is Ukrainian.

Craig Waddell is a retired Michigan Tech professor whose research focused on risk communication and public participation. He’s also the former president of the West Houghton Neighborhood Association, which worked on parks, walkability, aging in place, and related issues. You can reach him at rcraigwaddell@gmail.com 

A Reader
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