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Spoilers Screen Rant: Star Trek: Discovery just commited war crimes

Uhm the problem is the Geneva convention is for HUMAN warfare (plus we don't know if they were revised). There is no proof that they apply to Starfleet which is non-MILITARY (though Burnham did quote the convention in Ep3)

Also it's illegal to fire on a non-hostile ship in it's own territory which is the bigger problem.

Finally soldier's don't give $#!^ about the Geneva convention in the middle of battle. I suggest the rules lawyers watch the excellent PBS special on the Vietnam war to see what war is like.

Tehnically, Burnham cited the Geneval Protocol, which follows the Hague Convention, not the Geneva Convention. But I think it does show that Starfleet still follows these Earth-specific conventions.

Kor
 
So help me understand your position. Do war crimes happen on the battlefield or not? Are officers and soldiers who take no prisoners “bad guys in the battle” or not? Please clarify.
In the heat of battle trying to survive against OTHER soldiers, yes, stuff that might technically be considered war crimes happen, but in such an instance it's soldiers just trying to make it out of a battle alive.

I NEVER meant to imply that Soldiers doing things to combatants who have surrendered (POWs); or directly attacking civilians (who are not soldiers) which has been done on the Battlefield in war are not war crimes or should be excused as that's not in the heat of combat against a force that's armed as you are if you're a soldier on a battlefield in direct contact/combat with an opposing force.
 
In the heat of battle trying to survive against OTHER soldiers, yes, stuff that might technically be considered war crimes happen, but in such an instance it's soldiers just trying to make it out of a battle alive.

I NEVER meant to imply that Soldiers doing things to combatants who have surrendered (POWs); or directly attacking civilians (who are not soldiers) which has been done on the Battlefield in war are not war crimes or should be excused as that's not in the heat of combat against a force that's armed as you are if you're a soldier on a battlefield in direct contact/combat with an opposing force.

We’re in agreement then. War crimes DO happen both on and off the battlefield and there clearly are GOOD guys and BAD guys in battle. Not every action made by combatants can be excused by the fog of war and the instinct for survival. Thank you for your clarification.
 
We’re in agreement then. War crimes DO happen both on and off the battlefield and there clearly are GOOD guys and BAD guys in battle. Not every action made by combatants can be excused by the fog of war and the instinct for survival. Thank you for your clarification.
No sorry, I don't concede there are 'Good Guys' and 'Bad Guys' in battle - there are sides. And often people of both sides sometimes commit 'bad' acts.
 
The whole thing is pretty hazy in the episode. If there's any blame, maybe throw it at the editor.

Order of events: Episode 2
-The battle happens. The Shinzou is nearly destroyed by a Klingon ship, who turns around and leaves them alone, then they(the Shinzou) is nearly destroyed by an asteroid field.

-The admiral rescues the Shinzou with a tractor beam. He hails Captain Georgiou and tells her that there were heavy losses on both sides. He will now contact the Klingons.

-He hails the Klingins, and recommends a cease fire, "Because when we're not talking..." T'Kuvma is listening to the admiral, turns on his comm, and shows us his respectable English skills.
*Apparently he recloaked the sarcophagus ship during the battle(?).

-T'Kuvma agrees to the cease fire, and prepares his envoy(or claims he will)
*this is where the haziness is most opaque.

-The Sarcophagus ship decloaks and is "running over" the admiral's falgship(like a tank running over a toyota).

-The Admiral self-destructs his ship, which may or may not have disabled the sarcophagus ship.

-At this point, the battle seemingly ends. Every surviving Klingon ship in the Klingon fleet just leaves at warp 10.

-The Shinzou is half adrift. The sarcophagus ship is just chillin'. Things are quiet. T'Kuvma announces to his men "Time to collect our dead."

-Back on the Shinzou, Georgiou says "T'Kuvma lured Starfleet to a massacre. It's time I repaid him." She plans to destroy his mammoth vessel by sacrificing herself in a shuttlepod.

-Burnham pops in. "You can't do that, Captain! You'll make a martyr of him." Georgiou replies "I trusted you, but it appears I never really knew you."

-Then Burnham says "let me go in your place," then she says "I have a plan."

-they now beam the photon torpedo(?) Onto the corpse being dragged off the battlefield. And we know the rest.
 
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