![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldAs ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kizhajla pointed out, Russia and Japan are technically still fighting the Second World War, a peace treaty formally ending that country not having been signed owing to the ongoing dispute over the southern Kuril Islands. This dispute and this state of war hasn't kept the two countries from collaborating in a number of fields, of which not the least important is the export of oil and natural gas from the Russian Far East to Japan. This raises an interesting question: In the 21st century world, what exactly does a state of war entail? If Russia can sell gas to Japan even though the two coutnries are still at war and are divided by disputed territories while the United States can conquer Iraq without a declaration of war, what, exactly, has happened to the classical vocabulary of interstate diplomacy?
kizhajla pointed out, Russia and Japan are technically still fighting the Second World War, a peace treaty formally ending that country not having been signed owing to the ongoing dispute over the southern Kuril Islands. This dispute and this state of war hasn't kept the two countries from collaborating in a number of fields, of which not the least important is the export of oil and natural gas from the Russian Far East to Japan. This raises an interesting question: In the 21st century world, what exactly does a state of war entail? If Russia can sell gas to Japan even though the two coutnries are still at war and are divided by disputed territories while the United States can conquer Iraq without a declaration of war, what, exactly, has happened to the classical vocabulary of interstate diplomacy?
