Unfortunately, warfare has been part of the human experience for
centuries and even millennia. Historically, wars were fought on the
ground between individuals. Often, in more recent times, mass
physical destruction has been caused from a distance, with bombs
dropping from planes and missiles launched from remote
locations.
And now, in the Internet age, wars can be waged electronically
by purposely disrupting mission-critical systems of a perceived
enemy state. Damages caused by such disruptions could be quite
high, but there are potential international mechanisms by which
such damages could be awarded.
'Conventional' War Reparations
To understand that point, let's use an example from the
direct physical invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. As you likely
will recall, Kuwait's oil fields were set ablaze, resulting in
tremendous loss of oil assets and significant environmental
harm.
