The Japanese military poured pathogens into water supplies and released infected fleas into civilian populations. Designating acts like targeting civilians, torture, sexual enslavement and forced population transfer as war crimes is an admirable ideal. For example, Canada conducted war crimes trials in Germany after the Second World War, and hanged several German officials. (Keystone/Getty Images)In later years, the world set up the International Criminal Court, which actually tries and judges war crimes, but again, the process is transparently inconsistent. As an acquaintance with considerable expertise in military tactics wrote recently on the subject:"War = crimes = war.

Source: CBC News May 28, 2016 09:00 UTC