November 20, 2024
U.S. president Joe Biden was found to be too senile to stand for re-election. But that does not hinder the powers that be to let him launch world war III.
After 'allowing' Ukraine to fire U.S. controlled ballistic missiles onto targets in Russia the Biden administration is adding largely prohibited antipersonnel mines into the mix.
Biden approves antipersonnel mines for Ukraine, undoing his own policy - Washington Post
Over 160 countries, including Ukraine, have signed treaties which prohibit the use of antipersonnel mines. During his campaign Biden had spoken against the use of such weapons.
Despite that he has now authorized the provision of antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine. The claimed reason for that is born out of propaganda:
“Russia is attacking Ukrainian lines in the east with waves of troops, regardless of the casualties that they’re suffering,” one of the officials said. “So the Ukrainians are obviously taking losses, and more towns and cities are at risk of falling. These mines were made specifically to combat exactly this.”
There are no and have been no 'waves of troops' with which the Russian army is attacking Ukrainian positions. I challenge everyone to find me a video that shows such a 'wave'.
There are instead small groups of troops which infiltrate Ukrainian positions after these have been ravaged by artillery fire. The WaPo piece admits as much:
Ukrainian troops have struggled to build strong defensive lines in the face of relentless drone sorties and small assault teams.
Antipersonnel mines, even deactivated ones, continue to be a danger for the population even decades after a war ends. It is criminal to use these in a war that has already run its course:
[H]uman rights campaigners said that the U.S. decision to provide antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine — a signatory to the Mine Ban Treaty — is a black mark against Washington.“It’s a shocking and devastating development,” said Mary Wareham, deputy director of the crisis, conflict and arms division at Human Rights Watch, the advocacy group, who said that even nonpersistent mines hold risks for civilians, require complicated cleanup efforts and are not always reliably deactivated.
The most significant effect of Biden'S decision will be the proliferation of a type of weapon that was rightfully on its it way to total banishment:
The Ukraine conflict has spurred other countries to reevaluate their opposition to antipersonnel land mines. The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia considered withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention earlier this year in order to bolster their defenses against Russian aggression, although they ultimately decided to reinforce stocks of antitank mines and other tools that are less hazardous to civilians.
Posted by b on November 20, 2024 at 9:47 UTC |