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Deterrence depends on two mirrored factors: The ability and will to inflict unacceptable damage on an attacker if the attacker violates the interests of the defender. The credible restraint not to in …

Your characterization of both Lebanon and Gaza is wrong. This is the core of the answer. As originally written, the question characterized Gaza as an 'open air prison.' However, there are no prisons …

The concept of trial by combat did exist in the past, for lawsuits and also for other conflicts. It did rely on a society which sees the leader and the country as the same (l'etat, c'est moi, as ascr …

I cannot answer why he said five years and not four or six. But I can explain why it is not one year or ten years ... With the end of the Cold War, the Bundeswehr reoriented itself into an expeditiona …

I think it is a mistake to view the situation in 1918 through the lens of the genocide convention, let alone call it man-made. A century ago, food supplies were generally much more precarious than the …

Trucks are much less efficient than trains when it comes to bulk goods on long routes, and trains are much less efficient than ships. Replacing sea routes by land routes is only possible for high-val …

Sending NATO troops to do that work would have them doing combat support within Ukraine. Would they carry arms and shoot back if fired upon? If NATO wanted a war with Russia, they should do it with o …

There are two relevant concepts here in diplomatic practice: The term shuttle diplomacy describes the concept where negotiators from a third party (not necessary neutral but less involved) carry mess …

Depends on the specifics. If there is a military outpost on a hill, and they clear all trees and buildings a hundred meters around, they can probably argue that the military purpose of the destruction …

The Soviet Union fought (and won) anti-partisan wars in the recovered territories after WWII. They have experience in that regard. But that is not the point. Many Russian elites today define Russia as …

The big advantage of ICBMs is that they are intercontinental. With that comes a relatively high speed, which complicates intercepts, and long early warning time (for a missile) if the other side has s …

Russia would tell you that they are facing the entire might of the Western alliance in a proxy war, and that serious casualties are to be expected in their fight. Western media would explain that: Ru …

According to some armchair analysts who got interviewed by media the last time that happened, there is a correlation between dead generals and previous trouble on the battlefield, especially if the de …

Almost none. The relevant international conventions are written to apply even if the warring parties do not accept each other as legitimate states. A war is still a war if one party is playing word ga …

The ISW notes that Ukrainian forces came under fire while they evacuated flooding positions. It would appear reasonable that if one side knew the event would happen, and the other did not, they could …