When is a war a just war?  That debate has raged for millennia and I think it is time to stop buggering about pretending it is OK to kill people and pack it in.

Umpteen societies, cultures and philosophical standpoints have said since forever that murder is wrong.  It is naughty for one person to kill another.

More recently, many people have come to the view that it is no longer acceptable for the state to kill its own citizens.  Thus capital punishment is being phased out around the world.

But if it is wrong for the state to kill its own citizens, and citizenship is merely an accident of birth, how an it be OK for a state to kill the citizens of another state?  That is, to declare war.  It is hypocritical.

Also, if murder is wrong, how can it be OK for a state to send its citizens off to go and kill another state’s citizens?  If capital punishment is wrong, so is sending soldiers (or drones or warbots) to go and commit murder.  It is hypocritical.

There is no jus ad bellum for any offensive reason.  I can understand violence being used in defence, but can see no reasonable argument for starting a war.