Katrina vanden Heuvel: Cluster Bombs and New Nukes (The Nation)

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 03/05/2007 @ 01:39am
Cluster Bombs and New Nukes


Good news from Belgium. After forty-six nations--including Britain, Canada, and Germany--met in Oslo in February and agreed to work towards a global ban on cluster bombs over the next year, Belgium became the first nation to make investing in companies that produce the weapons a crime.

Under the new Belgian law, the government would publish a list of manufacturers and "prohibit banks from offering credit to cluster bomb makers and from owning shares or bonds in these companies."

Cluster bombs are spread over vast areas and many unexploded "bomblets" lie dormant for years. (The UN estimates that as many as 40 percent of 4 million bomblets dropped by Israel in Lebanon failed to explode on impact, and the weapons have recently been used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo as well). Civilians--especially children who are attracted to "their small size and bright colors"--are often the people who detonate them. An estimated 60 percent of the victims in Southeast Asia are children. According to organizers, the Oslo conference was spearheaded in order to "avoid a potential humanitarian disaster posed by unexploded cluster munitions." The 46 participating nations approved a declaration to "conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians."

The United States was noticeably absent from the Oslo conference (as were China and Russia). This is not surprising, since the Bush Administration continues to move towards a renewed arms race. At this critical moment when we are pushing Iraq and North Korea to abandon any ambitions to become a nuclear power, the Bush Administration is attempting to build "the first new nuclear warhead produced by the United States in more than 20 years." (This after the Administration's effort to build a nuclear "bunker buster" weapon was thwarted by the normally "see no evil hear no evil" Republican Congress). .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=171582

[Uncle Joe]

1. Thanks fo the thread marmar

Kicked and recommended