www.ditl.org

Well, the Convention on Cluster Munitions just went into effect. Anyone think it'll be anything but a hollow piece of paper given that the people who signed it either don't do much fighting or don't have a military that could actually make use of the things?

Seriously, people have issues with cluster bombs? I'll go with the "hollow piece of paper" option on this one.

Tyyr wrote:Well, the Convention on Cluster Munitions just went into effect. Anyone think it'll be anything but a hollow piece of paper given that the people who signed it either don't do much fighting or don't have a military that could actually make use of the things?

Read it again - the UK's on the list, courtesy of one of the many incompetent wastes of oxygen that that used to form the government.

The problem with banning cluster munitions is that they're extremely effective anti-tank weapons, more so for their cost than pretty much anything else. Removing them from the inventory means that we could very rapidly find ourselves in the shit if we have to fight anything resembling a modern army, while doing very little to reduce civilian casualties. It's a repeat of the AP landmine ban - those countries who cause the problems (i.e. who don't give a shit where the weapons end up, and make little or no effort to clear them) won't sign up and won't be affected, while those who do give a shit will be fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. A far better approach would be to formalise and toughen up international counter proliferation regimes, to prevent the weapons getting to said trouble makers.

I will go with worthless piece of paper. If anyone finds themselves seriously in the crapper and these things are useful, they will buy them and drop them as fast as they can. As Seafort said, they are too cost effective at what they do for someone engaging in a serious engagement with a modern army to not have them in the inventory.

The fact that the US, Russia and China will all have huge stockpiles of the weapons that are likely to be compatible with every major delivery system in the world will just make it simpler for nations that signed but need them in a pinch to buy a shipment and put them to quick use.

Yeah, no one's really going to bother with this. The nations who have cluster munitions will just continue using them.

How about we use our remaining stockpile on the BP execs?

I like it!