Cluster Bombs // Current TV

Cluster Bombs: Nations Reject Weakening of Global Ban

Proposed US Treaty Fails as Ban Supporters Stand Firm

joeeddy
added this
6 months ago
|
0 comments

Letter to the Editor; …save our children from cluster bombs

Ahmad picked up a bright metal object in a park in Lebanon where he was celebrating... more

joeeddy
added this
7 months ago
|
0 comments

America, We Loves our Cluster Bombs!

WikiLeaks cables surface American fears over Afghanistan’s approval of ban on... more

joeeddy
added this
9 months ago
|
0 comments

WikiLeaks cables: Secret Deal Let Americans Sidestep Cluster Bomb Ban | The Guardian

British and American officials colluded in a plan to hoodwink parliament over a... more

toyotabedzrock
added this
1 year ago
|
9 comments

Cluster Bomb Ban Begins Worldwide, U.S. Still Hasn't Signed | Human Rights | Change.org

On Sunday, the international Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) becomes law. Time to break open the champagne ...

But wait, although 37 countries have signed and ratified the convention, and 107 have signed with the intention of ratifying it, the United States is still not there.

If you want to do more to understand what cluster bombs are and how you can help save lives and limbs by opposing their use, see my prior comprehensive post, the "Superkit for Opposing Landmines and Cluster Bombs." You can also go to the source and read the Q&A from StopClusterMunitions.org. Meanwhile, here are the reasons many in the U.S. are refusing to support the CCM and arguments countering these reasons.

To understand what cluster munitions are, imagine landmines, bombs which explode when one steps on them or drive's near them, but landmines which fall from the sky in groups. During fighting, armed forces like to use cluster bomb strikes from the air because it reduces the chances they will miss their targets and it will reduce the willingness of those they are fighting to traverse the bombed area. But often the clusters hit civilian areas. Where landmines were at least sometimes predictable in their placement along fighting lines, or were even mapped, clusters are even harder to find. Most do explode on impact, but there are often a few unexploded bomblets remaining for years to come.

COST. Some opponents of the CCM agree with the principle of it but believe that it requires too high of a financial commitment. It could take billions of dollars to clear battlefields. But as with so many war price tags, wouldn't it be better to pay ahead of time to clean up the risk and have communities see the U.S. as part of the solution, then to continue to bomb enemies, hit people in the cross fire, and then leave war pollution for others to deal with?

REALISTIC GOALS. Other opponents of the CCM agree with the principle of it but think that the language and the timelines are unrealistic. Half of the countries on there, the argument goes, like with so many other international treaties, are simply signing for symbolic reasons with no true intention of following through. But isn't it better to set a lofty goal and work toward it, and to encourage others to do the same, rather than the opposite?

STRATEGIC. The toughest debate of course is among defense hawks. Those who believe wars are won through the "swiftness of action," "overwhelming force," and "combat superiority" believe that it is worth civilian deaths and maiming during combat and after if the force achieves its objectives of "neutralizing" the enemy and rendering them less likely to launch attacks on the friendly population which would theoretically be bloodier. But those who believe wars are won by public opinion on the ground, the local population shifting its support to the least bad political side actually, believe that the use of cluster bombs in combat would be akin to using flamethrowers to take down a team of serial killers. It may be technically effective in ending the primary risk, but creates not only additional loss and heartbreak, but potentially creates new risks because so many people are turned against those who've used the weapon.

If you have any new ideas on how to further pressure the U.S. to sign, ratify, and follow through on the CCM, please discuss below!On Sunday, the international Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) becomes law. Time... more

toyotabedzrock
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

U.S. Bombs Killed or Injured 50,000 in Laos

Unexploded bombs dropped on Laos by the US military during the Indochina War have... more

The_Global_Report
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Amnesty Int’l Report Claims U.S. Used Cluster Bombs on Yemeni Children « SpeakEasy

This post originally appeared on Booman Tribune. If true, this is pretty damning... more

Monkey_Films
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Mine blasts take terrible toll despite UN progress in eliminating explosives

With over 5,000 casualties last year from landmines that continue to indiscriminately kill and maim decades after they are laid, two senior United Nations officials today warned that, despite significant progress in ridding the world of these explosive devices, much more needs to be done.
“Over the past two years over 41 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed,” the Assistant-Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, Dmitry Titov, told reporters in New York. “And the production, transfer and sale of anti-personnel mines has stopped in many parts of the world.”

He noted that in Sudan mine clearance efforts have opened up to 29,000 kilometres of road, unblocking trade routes, allowing refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their communities, and helping humanitarian agencies deliver emergency relief supplies to various vulnerable groups around the country.

Some headway has even been made in war-torn Afghanistan, site of the oldest and largest mine action programme, where the number of casualties of landmine blasts has dropped from over 100 per month in 2005 to less than 60 a month at present owing to the destruction of around 84,000 mines in 2008 alone.

However, the goals of “clearing land and transport routes to improve the livelihoods of communities are still hampered by the threat of landmines in over 70 countries,” stressed Director of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) Maxwell Kerley.

“Some 14 million stockpiled anti-personnel mines still remain to be destroyed throughout the world,” said Mr. Kerley, recalling a recent report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging all UN Member States to ratify the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been signed by 103 countries and ratified by 24 to date.

Mr. Kerley also noted that some 1,000 participants representing governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are slated to attend the UNMAS summit on a mine-free world, to be held in Cartagena, Colombia, in two weeks.

Fourteen UN departments, agencies, programmes and funds play a role in mine-action programmes in 30 countries and three territories.

News Tracker: past stories on this issue
Ban urges countries to strengthen protection of civilians from cluster bombsWith over 5,000 casualties last year from landmines that continue to indiscriminately... more

kingfugazi
added this
2 years ago
|
0 comments

Progress on Cluster Bombs

Good news is in short supply. The economy remains bleak. The war in Iraq entered its... more

dirtyemowords
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

US closer to total ban on cluster bombs

The United States has stepped closer to a total ban on the use and export of cluster... more

TravG73
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

TIME OUT!!! It is time to STOP all THIS 20th CENTURY BS!!!

World powers ignore treaty to ban cluster bombs Russia News.Net Saturday 13th... more

Katanajon
added this
3 years ago
|
19 comments

Cluster Bomb Treaty and The World's Unfinished Business

The United States, Russia and China are sending a terrible message to the rest of the... more

dirtyemowords
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

Ill. Gov. arrested in Obama successor probe

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested Tuesday on charges of... more

Pericles_Lewnes
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

Cluster bomb treaty: US, Russia and China opt out

The Guardian: 100 countries set to sign international treaty banning cluster bombs but... more

Vierotchka
added this
3 years ago
|
15 comments

Cluster bomb treaty: US, Russia and China opt out

The Guardian: 100 countries set to sign international treaty banning cluster bombs but... more

Vierotchka
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

93 countries sign cluster bomb ban

Ninety-three countries signed a treaty banning cluster bombs Thursday, as diplomats... more

BuddyP
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

92 nations sign cluster-bomb ban; US, Russia don't

The U.S., Russia and other countries refusing to sign the treaty say cluster bombs... more

covelogibbs
added this
3 years ago
|
0 comments

Nations sign cluster bomb ban treaty

The first of more than 100 countries have begun signing a treaty to ban current... more

steadmani
added this
3 years ago
|
1 comment

Nations sign cluster-bomb ban,US, Russia, China refuse

OSLO, Norway – Nations began signing a treaty banning cluster bombs Wednesday in... more

Pericles_Lewnes
added this
3 years ago
|
2 comments

The next U.S. president must sign the treaty on cluster bombs

The United States is the largest producer, stockpiler, and user of cluster bombs in... more

JanforGore
added this
3 years ago
|
3 comments

select your country

Community Spotlight

TAGS

tagged w/ Cluster Bombs

top videos

find current on tv

find current online

recent comments

© 2012 Current TV, LLC All Rights Reserved

the basics

follow us online

tools

stay in touch

© 2012 Current TV, LLC
All Rights Reserved