Berlin will no longer be required to ensure that US drone strikes coordinated through an air base in Germany are in line with international law, a top court has ruled, in a “severe blow” to a case brought by human rights groups.
As far as Japan goes, i find it a lot harder to apply the same reasoning as for Dresden - largely due to the sheer scale, the long term effects and the aspect that it was partially motivated by giving a show of force to the USSR. I agree that the allies did atrocious things besides that as well, such as the internment of the Japanese before the war, or the Bengal famine. The pillaging and the rapes by the Red Army were atrocious, too, it's just that the USSR had endured worse at the hands of the Wehrmacht and the SS-Einsatzgruppen immediately before that happened. I'm not saying revenge is a good thing in any way, or that it's justified, because it isn't. But in 1945, commanders and troops going too far out of previous injuries is understandable. Doesn't make it right, but explains it.
As far as Japan goes, i find it a lot harder to apply the same reasoning as for Dresden - largely due to the sheer scale, the long term effects and the aspect that it was partially motivated by giving a show of force to the USSR. I agree that the allies did atrocious things besides that as well, such as the internment of the Japanese before the war, or the Bengal famine. The pillaging and the rapes by the Red Army were atrocious, too, it's just that the USSR had endured worse at the hands of the Wehrmacht and the SS-Einsatzgruppen immediately before that happened. I'm not saying revenge is a good thing in any way, or that it's justified, because it isn't. But in 1945, commanders and troops going too far out of previous injuries is understandable. Doesn't make it right, but explains it.