Hi, sorry for not responding earlier. You seem to be very knowledgeable. I was trained in ethics as part of my medical training, so the extent of my knowledge may not be as great as yours. Anyway, these are the specific pieces of knowledge I was invoking:

• Ethics only applies to entities with free will. I don’t believe countries have free will since they act in a deterministic fashion.
• Ethics deals with principles that must be upheld. These principles include not causing harm, acting for the benefit of others, etc. I understand that these principles are the main mechanism for making choices.
• In the paradigm I was trained on, ethics only states what one should do, and doesn’t deal with punishment.
• A nexus of causality transfers responsibility. I believe there is a nexus of causality when any deterministic process is involved.

So, my point is that this specific situation must not be resolved by you stated means since:

• Here, punishment is incompatible with seeking the good of others.
• Since countries are deterministic, ethics doesn’t apply to them.
• Since countries are deterministic, even if ethics were to apply, responsibility is transferred (e.g., since I know 100% sure how a country will respond to my actions, I am triggering their response as much as them).