“I’m going to start a war.”

“Stop, That’s illegal!”

“Who’s going to stop me? You and what army?”

“This army!”

And then they fight a war.

A lot of people on here are making the point that war is profitable in many cases. They aren’t wrong, but it’s much simpler than that and has nothing to do with money. The entirety of the sovereign state based system we live in is predicated on the premise that to consolidate power you have to have a monopoly on use of force. And when you have a bunch of individual states claiming sovereignty over a bunch of individual territories, the only way that sovereignty is actually worth anything is if that state is willing to put up a right to prove it. I think the only way we will ever get away from war in the way we see it now is by moving onto an Earth-encompassing single state. We are a long, long way off from that.

As mentioned, war is a billion dollar industry. But also, international law is complicated to enforce. Countries aren’t so easy to control that you can just fine them unless there is a greater consequence for not doing so. That greater consequence is often war, or some form of sanction.

But you also have nuclear powers in the mix, making war an ineffective method of enforcement, because the risks of war between two nuclear powers is greater than can justify whatever enforcement caused it. Leaving the next best tool to be sanctions. But not every country will honor those sanctions, and you create these crazy little countries like Iran or North Korea, who build nuclear weapons and cozy up to your enemies instead of you.

Note: I’m not an expert on the topic of the UN or geopolitics

Two countries declare war on eachother and the UN goes:

—“Stop! That’s against the law!”

Then the UN proceeds to attack the countries to stop the war, starting another war.

It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.

Unfortunately, war is a billion dollar industry…

It’s meant to be a like minded agreement where if it ever came down to the countries going to war with each other, then the agreement is how war would be conducted. Take the Geneva Convention for example. If the US went to war with England for some reason, then the Geneva convention would be their ultimate code of conduct for the war to avoid unnecessary casualties, the management of pows and adequate reasons for ceasefires. It’s more just guidelines as they are rules. However if you’re a country outside of those agreements, then the guidelines don’t apply. It seems arbitrary, but the concept comes from a good place imo

They can as long as the country is not a nuclear power. Because nuclear weapons are the only real prevention.