MANAGER
Joe Biden gives cluster munitions to Ukraine. It is not good, and we had expected clearer positions from the former activists against cluster weapons, Jens and Jonas.
THE CLASSMATES: Jens and Jonas, former activists against cluster weapons, have become lukewarm. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB Show more
Editor: This is an editorial from Dagbladet, and expresses the newspaper’s view. Dagbladet’s political editor is responsible for the editorial.
Published on Tuesday 11 July 2023 – 14:57
There is a reason to the fact that more than 100 countries have signed the convention banning the use of cluster munitions. A convention in which Norway was a driving force, and then Prime Minister Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Støre were international political activists on behalf of humanity, no less. The reason is that cluster munitions kill and maim in a large area, and thus especially affect civilians.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg believes a Russian victory in Ukraine will make the world more dangerous. The NATO meeting opens in Vilnius on Tuesday. view more
And there are a hundred reasons why cluster munitions should not be used. Among other things, that they continue to kill long after the war is over. In Laos, 20,000 people have been killed by cluster bombs after the US used them during the Vietnam War, half of them children. And it will take another 100 years for the rest of these weapons to stop killing and maiming.
USA, Russia and Ukraine has not signed the convention, and thus does not break its own laws by giving away and using cluster munitions. But the US violates international norms by giving them to Ukraine. And that is not good in a time of increasing lawlessness and the transgression of norms in international politics.
Just to remind you, Cluster munitions are bombs or grenades that open in the air and can launch hundreds of smaller explosive charges over a large area. Many of them do not explode when they land, and therefore become death traps long after the war is over. Russia in particular, but also Ukraine, have used them in the war. Over the weekend, President Joe Biden said he will give Ukraine more cluster munitions.
Track: This is Stoltenberg’s plan
Class weapon are considered outdated weapons, the military bluntly says that it is the “weapon of losers”. They kill effectively, but in Ukraine they can kill as many Ukrainian as Russian soldiers. The reason is that the Ukrainians, in the ongoing military offensive, will themselves conquer the areas they have just bombed with cluster munitions. They can literally get going in a flash.
It was anyway a reason why Jens Stoltenberg and Jonas Gahr Støre in their time fronted the work to ban the use of cluster munitions. It was because they considered these weapons to be uncivilized killing weapons with a precision and killing potential that almost makes them weapons of mass destruction. That’s a consideration they should still have. But now the NATO chief and the prime minister say nothing about the US decision. NATO countries such as Canada and Spain say they do not support President Joe Biden’s controversial decision. That makes our leading men into what in bold Bergen is called rävdiltere. America’s assholes.
2023-07-11 13:01:13
#Cluster #Weapon #reason
