# Would using an orbital weapon be a war crime?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 13, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047 "2023-11-13T01:33:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047/21 "2023-11-13T18:06:37Z")

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> [@Telemark](#):
>
> The offence is indiscriminate killing of non-combatants, not really the method of doing so.

Then were the carpet bombings of Germany, the rocket attacks on Britain and the fire-bombing of Tokyo all war crimes?

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047/22 "2023-11-13T18:13:21Z")

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> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Then were the carpet bombings of Germany, the rocket attacks on Britain and the fire-bombing of Tokyo all war crimes?

Yes, these deliberate attacks to terrorize and kill non-combatants are all war crimes even if the victors do not describe them using that language.

Stranger

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047/23 "2023-11-13T18:14:37Z")

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Winners determine what constitutes a war crime.

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**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047/24 "2023-11-13T18:48:24Z")

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Also, ‘war crimes’ laws only inhibit nations when the penalties are greater than the tactical or strategic gains such crimes might have. And as we saw in WWII, if people are fighting an existential war, there are few rules.

Also, these rules only tend to be adhered to by civilized nations, and only when the war is not existential. None of these laws stopped Grozny or Mariupol or Aleppo feom being flattened, or 1200 peaceful Jewish people from being slaughtered. Or, for that matter, Dresden and Tokyo being firebombed.

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-using-an-orbital-weapon-be-a-war-crime/993047/25 "2023-11-13T20:16:16Z")

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> [@Saint\_Cad](#):
>
> Then were the carpet bombings of Germany, the rocket attacks on Britain and the fire-bombing of Tokyo all war crimes?

Certainly by today’s standards, they were war crimes. It’s tough to go back and apply a standard that was formally codified partially in response to the way WWII was waged to WWII acts. But even for the time they were particularly brutal.

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