Like? Is anyone who starts a war a “war criminal” now?
If it’s because Russia’s killed civilians (whether intentionally or just because they didn’t care enough in pursuit of their military objectives), then, like, isn’t basically every Western leader + Biden a “war criminal”? How would you ever create a standard that could include him but not others?
And if they are all “war criminals” then why would you support one over the other? I don’t get this conversation.
And even if you had to, like, in what world would it make sense to think that Putin is worse than Netanyahu or the Western leaders who arm and support him?
The reasoning for Putin, specifically, being a supposed war criminal has to so with orphaned children in Mariupol being inducted into Russian care and fostering. Technically, this does qualify as genocide under the geneva conventions, quite explicitly.
However. Considering the history, and special hatred the Ukrainian nazi paramilitary groups had for the Russian populace of Mariupol, it’s not surprising Russia wasn’t just going to hand orphaned kids back to their parents tormentors.
Of course, any one who has been watching these western captured international legal institutions over the last few years know what they are for: moral othering of anyone suffering from western imperialism, not impartial justice.