Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Wiser
He, like the Walkers, should've been shot.
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So, purely as a matter of proportionality, then, Soviet (or other) nationals working (aka 'spying') for the West should also be shot?
I believe there's generally a reason that such people are often imprisoned - so that, at need, they can be used as bargaining chips to get the release of someone the holding nation may want released. Or to encourage the 'other side' to not do the same in lesser cases, as retaliation ...
Good politics,
in that sense only.
If one could be
entirely sure that such people would
never be needed as bargaining chips and that their execution
wouldn't trigger some disproportionate retaliation down the track, executing them is fine ... but can you ever be sure?
In wartime, of course, it's also why they are generally executed, with the blessing of the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
Phil