Showing posts with label Convention on Cluster Munitions. Show all posts

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Evil Incarnate Distracted By Salacious Pageantry

Western Powers, Puppeteers, Puppets Slaughter Civilians, Assassinate News Gatherers on Ground of Armchair-Ordered Horrendous Conflict

Today’s News and Context: USA Made Everlasting Death Weapons

Critical Background

Populations ((latest update 2019, estimates) Attacked by Cluster Bombs

Afghanistan	Eritrea	South Sudan
Angola	Ethiopia	Sudan
Azerbaijan	Germany	Syria
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Iran	Tajikistan
Cambodia	Iraq	Ukraine
Chad	Laos	United Kingdom
Croatia	Lebanon	Vietnam
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Libya	Yemen
Donetsk People’s Republic	Malta	Kosovo
	Montenegro	Western Sahara
	Serbia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_munition

Documented in Successive Centuries USA involvement in Cluster Bomb use on Populations

1955-1975 targeting Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian peoples

1978, 1982 (again in 2006) (made in USA) targeting Lebanese people

1983 targeting Grenadian people

1999 targeting Yugoslavian (South Slavic) people

2001–2002 targeting Afghan people

2003–2006 targeting Iraqi people

2011 targeting Libyan people

2012 targeting Syrian people

2014 (and 2023) targeting Eastern Ukrainian (Donetsk) people

2015-2022 targeting Yemeni people

Half a century after the USA stopped bombing the people of Vietnam with cluster bombs hundreds of people of this country are being wounded or killed by “unexploded ordnance.”

An estimated 40 percent of mines and unexploded bombs in the decimated Yugoslavia are cluster bombs.

Good Intentions: CCM’s Collective Effort to End Carnage

Just over three decades following the carnage in Vietnam, just short of a decade after the decimation of the land of South Slavs and while U.S.-deployed agents and entities were still dropping bombs all across Western Asia, 107 States representatives convening in the Republic of Ireland (Dublin) adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). Its reported intention was “to address the humanitarian consequences and unacceptable harm to civilians caused by cluster munitions.”

Cluster Munitions Convention Website-documented States Parties to Munitions Convention

Signatories to the Munitions Convention: 12

Africa 8:

Angola

Central African Republic

Democratic Republic of Congo

Djibouti

Kenya

Liberia

Uganda

United Republic of Tanzania

Americas 2:

Haiti, Jamaica

Asia/Pacific 1:

Indonesia

Europe 1: Cyprus

https://www.clusterconvention.org/

States Parties

Africa 35:

Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Togo, Tunisia, and Zambia.

Americas 25:

Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitt and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

Asia/Pacific 17:

Afghanistan, Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Iraq, Japan, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Maldives, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Philippines, Sri Lanka, the State of Palestine, and Samoa.

Europe 34:

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic (formerly (-1993) Czechoslovakia)*, Denmark, France, Germany, the Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

* https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-did-the-czech-republic-change-its-name-to-czechia.html

State Signatories plus Ratification cleanly documented (without “*” exception)

Afghanistan	Gambia	Nigeria
Albania	Germany	North Macedonia
Antigua and Barbuda	Ghana	Palau
Australia	Guatemala	Panama
Austria	Guinea	Paraguay
Benin	Guinea-Bissau	Peru
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Honduras	Philippines
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Hungary	Portugal
Botswana	Iceland	Republic of Moldova
Bulgaria	Iraq	Rwanda
Burkina Faso	Ireland (Republic of)	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Burundi	Italy	Samoa
Cabo Verde (Anglosphere trans. Cape Verde)	Lao People’s Democratic Republic	San Marino
Cameroon	Lebanon	Sao Tome and Principe
Canada	Lesotho	Senegal
Central African Republic	Liechtenstein	Seychelles
Chad	Luxembourg	Sierra Leone
Chile	Madagascar	Slovenia
Comoros	Malawi	Somalia
Congo	Mali	South Africa
Cook Islands	Malta	Spain
Costa Rica	Mauritania	Sweden
Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)	Mexico	Togo
Croatia	Monaco	Tunisia
Czech Republic	Montenegro	Uruguay
Dominican Republic	Mozambique	Zambia
Ecuador	Namibia
El Salvador	Nauru
Fiji	Nicaragua
France	Niger

https://treaties.unoda.org/t/cluster_munitions
UN Convention on Cluster Munitions: 111 States Parties, 12 Signatories https://www.clusterconvention.org/

Cluster Munitions Context of Today’s Deadly News

Horrific, Preventable, Unnecessary deaths—not including hundreds and thousands all deaths and mental and physical injuries sustained by men, women and children in the general population of Russia and Ukraine, the Black Sea Region, and Eurasia more broadly.

Russian Correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev killed (other journalists wounded) by United States and military industries’ manufacture, supply (and discard) of—and Washington sadists’ gleeful endorsement of—Cluster munitions.

Press TV “Russian journalist killed by US cluster bombs in ‘heinous’ crime in Ukraine: Moscow,” Saturday July 22, 2023, https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/07/22/707529/Killing-of-Russian-journalist-in-Ukraine--heinous-crime---Moscow

Documented in earlier news orders from armchair Washington “The US confirmed that Ukraine is using Washington-supplied cluster bombs against Russian forces.”

Entrenched Washington Gerontocrats Biden and Graham chorused by sycophantic Obama holdover Sullivan have boasted of U.S. entities’ supplying Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s North Central Ukraine with civilian-killer weaponry.

RT “Russian journalist killed in Ukrainian shelling: RIA Novosti news agency said its crew and other journalists came under fire in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region.”

The news crew reportedly came under fire “near the village of Pyatikhatki.” Russia war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev “was killed after Ukrainian forces hit a civilian vehicle in the area.”

Also among the reported injured in the strike were “RIA Novosti’s photojournalist Konstantin Mikhalchevsky” and Izvestia newspaper’s “correspondent Roman Polshakov and cameraman Dmitry Shikov.” https://www.rt.com/russia/580110-ria-correspondent-killed-ukraine/

Why a strict binding Cluster Munitions Treaty necessary?

Why should such as treaty be strictly enforced, adhered to as a matter of strict law (not the current situation of USA impunity alternating with a schizophrenic “rules- based” nothingness)?

Why Cluster Munitions Treaty? Because their harm that cannot be healed once discharged lies in wait, hidden or camouflaged in soil or structures. The harm caused by cluster munitions is never-ending.

It is reported that the failure rate of these air-dropped or ground-launched killers that release smaller sub-munitions spread over vast areas is as high as or higher than 40 percent. And during release and long after initial emission, cluster munitions threaten the lives of human beings (and not only human beings).

Unexploded smaller bombs (or “bomblets”) within cluster bombs are well-documented for killing and maiming “civilians” and attacking “unintended targets”—long after a particular war, conflict or invasion has ended. Unexploded ‘bomblets’ can remain dangerous for decades….” Ask Laotians a half century after United States initial cluster bombing stopped yet those U.S. cluster bombs continue to kill their people.

These killer munitions are said to be “expensive” to move or relocate (not as lucrative as selling arms and kicking back policy, luxury, political campaign financing). Armchair commanders, arms makers and dealers, common variety politicians issuing orders to use these weapons are disinclined to sully their frocks or injury themselves or their kin. These men and women and their partnering ilk are notorious for creating chaos, causing unspeakable harm—and never mending the brokenness or taking responsibility for their wrongs and ensuring proper cleanup.

There is no future where children are broken or are unsafe. The daily walk of anyone and particularly the play of children is imperiled. The disabling or disabilities caused by these weapons are unfixable—no matter how many “do-gooders” or “charities” toss off their “goodness” while perpetuating A to Z “nonprofits” and “foundations” and promoting lifestyles of individuals who in a variety of ways are attached to these entities.

Because sadists and sycophants invest in and take kickbacks from killing but they never offer their bodies to the line of fire—it is absolutely necessary to have a strict and binding treaty banning cluster munitions. Even more, it is necessary to ban the global trade and trafficking in violent aggression.

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Brazenly Callous Disregard for Life

Ensconced in the House and Senate

“War is never short of horrifying, but cluster munitions stand out even amid the terrible weaponry of modern war.… [A mandate of the U.S. Congress has prohibited] the transfer of cluster munitions with

over a 1 percent failure rate to any foreign nation.

“Since most stockpiled U.S. cluster munitions have a failure rate of 2 percent to 6 percent (independent studies and humanitarian organizations cite much higher estimates that range from 10 percent to 40 percent), this effectively functions as a ban on U.S. transfers.

“But recent requests from members of Congress and from officials in Ukraine are calling on President Biden to waive this transfer prohibition.” Defense One by Nuria Raul April 13, 2023: “Biden Must Resist Calls to Send Cluster Munitions to Ukraine Transferring the weapons may bring tactical benefits but would be a strategic disaster.” https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2023/04/biden-must-resist-calls-send-cluster-munitions-ukraine/385142/

DISREGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE

Boasted by
Same creatures who champion “rights” of “preborns”

“‘I hope every effort will be made to look into providing the cluster bombs (as) we have two million available,’” a sadistic Wilson utterance heard and reported by various news outlets.

A South Carolina lawyer with non-active-duty military service and entrenched state and federal government employment (including staffer of U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond) dating to the early 1970s; seated in the U.S. House by special election in 2001; and in September 15, 2009, reprimanded by the U.S. House of Representatives for interrupting the President’s remarks before a Joint Session; the action by the Congressman “was a ‘breach of decorum and degraded the proceedings’ of the Joint Session”— Charleston, South Carolina, native Addison Graves WILSON (who calls himself “Joe” Wilson (Biographical Directory of the United States Congress). Almayadeen News April 28, 2023 “Congressman Pushes for sending banned cluster bombs to Kiev,” by Al Mayadeen English (Source: Agencies), https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/congressman-pushes-for-sending-banned-cluster-bombs-to-kiev

Shouted in a press release dated March 21, 2023, Members of the US House and Senate call for export of cluster bombs to conflict arena in Eastern Europe:

U.S., Senators James E Risch of Idaho and Roger Frederick Wicker of Mississippi along with U.S. Representatives Michael Thomas McCaul Sr. of Texas and Michael Dennis Rogers of Alabama fire off a missive (or missile) to the President of the United States (cc to arms-export advocates heading defense and state) urging his administration “to immediately provide cluster munitions… to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/rep/release/risch-wicker-mccaul-rogers-urge-biden-to-send-dpicm-to-ukraine

BACKGROUND on Cluster Bombs

Deadly Significance of this issue

The Convention on Cluster Munitions adopted in 2008 grows out of civilization’s caring and deep concerns for human health and broader regional and international, societal and environmental concerns, some of which are these:

“That civilian populations and individual civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflict”

“That the remnants of cluster munitions kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development, including through the loss of livelihood, impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction, delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, can negatively affect national and international peace-building and humanitarian assistance efforts, and have other severe consequences that can persist for many years after use”

The determination of States Parties to the Convention “to put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions at the time of their use, when they fail to function as intended, or when they are abandoned.”

Article I section 1: Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to:

(a) Use cluster munitions

(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions

(c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.

The Convention was adopted on May 30, 2008, in the Republic of Ireland (Dublin), by 107 States and signed seven months later in Norway (Oslo). On August 1, 2010, the Convention “entered into force” and “became binding international law.” The current total of Member States of the Convention is 123: 111 States Parties and 12 Signatories.

Convention States Parties in the Americas:

Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay.

NON-STATES PARTIES in the Americas:

Argentina
Brazil
United States of America
Bahamas
Dominica
Barbados
Suriname

United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs: Convention on Cluster Munitions
https://treaties.unoda.org/t/cluster_munitions
Status of the treaty https://www.clusterconvention.org/states-parties/