4 ms·

> There is a lack of independent observers of war crimes (there are satellite photos of dead bodies, but that in itself doesnt prove war crimes were committed)

• pydry 4y ago
  >The UN recently released a independent report The UN recently released an "independent" report refusing to assign blame for shelling on Zaporizhia. I would like to trust the UN but when the truth of what happened in Zaporizhia was so very obvious and they made no comment on it after a thorough investigation, they undermined their status as an impartial investigator. Rape is a difficult allegation to prove at the best of times. During the fog of war, with no impartial observers and a paucity of evidence other than witness testimony it becomes nearly impossible. This is pretty much where we are. >Children have also been killed and injured in indiscriminate attacks with explosive weapons. How do you prove that attacks are indiscriminate? For 50 years Israel has been accused of this after killing thousands of children and has successfully batted away the accusation with "well, we were firing at militants, civilians just happened to be there whoops". This (among other things) set a precedent under international law that the standard of evidence required to prove mens rea was almost impossibly high. So far we havent had anything like the Srebrenica massacre (clear cut evidence of militants caught on camera admitting to massacring civilians) we've just got a lot of unreliable witnesses, a lot of accusations flying and a lot of largely western leaning institutions that are as credulous of Ukrainian accusations of warcrimes as they are incredulous of Russian accusations. >So you are in agreement with me Russia commits war crimes I suspect everybody of committing war crimes but I trust nobody to actually investigate and punish them. I realize this puts me in a minority. To most people, this war seems to be a team sport and demonstrate the same level of introspection as a knicks fan or somebody wearing a MAGA hat.
  • _kbh_ 4y ago
    > It's hard to prove that attacks are indiscriminate. For 50 years Israel has been accused of this and has successfully batted away the accusation with "well, we were firing at militants, civilians just happened to be there whoops". The Russians level entire cities, the leader of the DPR even explicitly said they where going to kill all Ukrainians they couldn't 'convince', threatening to kill them all. https://mobile.twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1579820810751324160 https://mobile.twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/15798208107... We have videos of the Russians committing war crimes if you really need that. Here Russia killing two unarmed civilians, caught on camera. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/11/europe/ukraine-video-russian-soldiers-shoot-civilians/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/11/europe/ukraine-video-russ... Here's a link to an article, cause I don't want to link the video. Of a Russian soldier castrating a Ukrainian PoW. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_castration_of_a_Ukrainian_POW_in_Pryvillia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_and_castration_of_a_Uk... Here's a link to a Russian tank obliterating a car with civilians on it, on camera. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQz1UUkmuqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQz1UUkmuqM Here's a article that mixes video and witness testimony which says Russia executed 8 civilians. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/russia-bucha-ukraine-executions.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/world/europe/russia-bucha... So will you finally admit Russia commits war crimes, or will video evidence suddenly not be good enough?.