April 20, 2009 

International Law

International Law does not work this way:

So wait… war, poverty, and oppression were all legal before?


  • Naryldor

    Oh well, there had to be an explanation for all these centuries in which mankind has made such a good work at trying to exterminate each other, it’s only because nobody has ever thought of banning war, hunger and oppression! Brilliant!

    I think I need a drink…

  • sezaar

    Well, there exist something like “international laws of war” (the Geneva convention for instance). Poverty and oppression are not “legal” as such but they are not banned neither. Certain oppressions are non-legal depending on the country, and you have intentions to fight poverty, oppression,… This one actually makes sense compared to so many other things they have done.

    It does remind me of a Saved by the bell-episode (yes I feel ashamed) where kelly’s dad (who worked for an arms manufacturer) was all of a sudden out of job because world peace was declared.

  • Megalon

    I love Hal’s little smirk in the second panel. It looks like he’s thinking “an end to war and oppression? That’s what you think heh heh heh.”

  • Naryldor

    I see your point, yet there’s many an “international law” out there that “regulates” war, oppression, etc. Problem is that when somebody decides to ignore those laws there’s little the rest of the world can (or is willing to) do against it. If current international regulations oriented to keep abuse at bay during a conflict (yep, I know this last phrase is a bit ironic at best) are all but useless, the possibility of making laws that utterly ban wars seems laughable given the way the World is doing as of today.

    As for Saved by the bell… Ashamed? Come on, it rocked! Here in Spain they broadcasted it at lunch time, right after school, that half and hour was all but sacred for my sister and I.

  • sezaar

    Is it just me or do these guys look really unhappy?

    “world peace was declared today.”
    “You finally did it! You maniacs!”

  • http://www.myspace.com/thischarmingoscar Rorschach

    “Oh no, Utopia…gotta look for a new job.” I understand them, in a way.

  • Michael

    Jesus, who knew Flash was such a Debbie Downer?

  • http://flickr.com/photos/sedary_raymaker/ Naked Bunny with a Whip

    Wow, the UN is just as powerful in the DCU as it is in the “Left Behind” universe.

  • Shiai

    Well, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, signed in 1929, actually outlawed war. It was signed by a number of nations, including Germany and Japan, and we saw how well that worked just a decade later.

    If one could enforce anything just by passing a bill, then the entire world would be more into International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19).

  • Maniac Doc

    Michael says: “Jesus, who knew Flash was such a Debbie Downer?”

    To be fair, pretty much nothing is as it first seems in the DC Universe, so I can hardly blame Flash for not immediately buying into it.

  • Your Obedient Serpent

    Illegal? Hell, I thought they were MANDATORY.

  • Dierna

    Yes…well we saw how well world peace worked in the Superman films…. :P “Lets destroy all weopons!”

    “Hate Groups Disband!”?? WTF? Seriously like that’ll ever happen….

  • depizan

    Wait, how does outlawing war even work? What do you do if a country disobeys that law, given that it, you know, outlaws war? Though, with superheroes available, I suppose you send them in as global police (they would have the power to stop war without war…probably). Which means that the Justice League would still be needed. So they can all cheer up. :)

  • http://city-of-masks.blogspot.com MikeRM

    “The United Nations has voted…”

    Oh, well, problem solved, then.

  • JackNCSY

    Poverty, too.

    “Got a dollar?”

    “Why?”

    “I’m homeless.”

    “What?! Help! Police!”

  • HellRazor

    Corti-Conscience? Is that anything like Cauli-Flower?

  • Michael

    War, the crime so big, there’s no law against it.

  • http://www.cinrambler.wordpress.com Mark

    Shiai beat me to the punch. International law did outlaw war in 1929 which explains why there’s never been a war since.

  • http://bwmedia.wordpress.com ShadowWing Tronix

    “If one could enforce anything just by passing a bill, then the entire world would be more into International Talk Like a Pirate Day”

    I prefer International Talk Like a Ninja Day, but I’m the soft spoken time. The problem is nobody knows when it is. :)

  • http://bwmedia.wordpress.com ShadowWing Tronix

    “soft spoken *type*” Grrrrr

  • http://www.jlroberson.org JLRoberson

    >>“Oh no, Utopia…gotta look for a new job.” I understand them, in a way.

    If you recall, they once sat around happy about alien invasions and other disasters, because they “make them heroes.” (J’onn makes this remark, and when he does I can imagine him, Superman, and alien agent Green Lantern snickering to each other)

    Okay, that was just a fantasy by the Tornado Tyrant as he was pretending to be the JLA. But does that sound off the mark anyway?

  • Dierna

    ShadowWing:

    Be a Ninja Day is Dec 5th duh. That’s easy for me to remember cuz Im German and Dec 5th is Christmas Eve in Germany. *lol*

  • Menshevik

    @Diema
    In Germany December 5th is the day before St. Nicholas’s day, Christmas Eve is December 24th.

    @Shiai and Mark
    The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawed wars of aggression only, not war in self-defense. And the problem with such a treaty is of course enforcement – absent a world government and world police/army, peace has to be upheld or if necessary restored by the use of force of the signatories. However, AFAIK the Kellogg Briand Pact and its violation by Germany was in fact used as part of the legal foundation of the Nuremberg Trials (where the charges included preparing and mounting wars of aggression as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity).

  • Menshevik

    Oh, and since murder, theft etc. have been illegal since time immemorial, we’ve never ever had to deal with those pesky little problems.

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