Nope this is not my attempt to share some family secret cookie recipe….this post is about those lovely cluster bombs that the US has sent to Ukraine.
A Ukrainian general told CNN on Thursday that Ukraine has received a shipment of US cluster bombs, controversial munitions that have a devastating impact on civilians.
“We just got them, we haven’t used them yet, but they can radically change the situation on the battlefield,” Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said.
The Biden administration announced last week that it was sending Ukraine cluster munitions in the form of 155mm artillery shells as part of an $800 million weapons package.
It’s not clear how many have arrived in Ukraine so far, but Pentagon officials have said they will provide “hundreds of thousands” of rounds.
The cluster munitions are being provided using the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows President Biden to ship Ukraine weapons directly from US military stockpiles.
Cluster bombs scatter small submunitions over large areas, making them especially hazardous for civilians. Submunitions that don’t explode immediately on impact can kill or maim civilians for decades to come, as they have in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, where the US dropped hundreds of millions of bomblets during the Vietnam War.
Shortly after the beginning of the Ukraine excursion and Russia was using cluster ammo the Biden people called their use as a war crime….now that the US is supplying them is it still a war crime?
Now to my thinking this is an escalation of this conflict and I am not alone….
When certain lines are crossed, the nature of other things becomes clearer. Providing cluster bombs to the Ukrainian military is such a rubicon. The pretense that the NATO sponsored forces have some kind of moral high ground in their conflict with Moscow is fading quickly. Even retired Vermont senator Patrick Leahy together with current senator Jeff Merkley acknowledged as much in a recent opinion piece in the newspaper of the warfare state, the Washington Post.(7/8/2023). Neither of these men oppose the US involvement in the conflict, but providing a weapon banned by most governments in the world is too much for these humanitarian warmongers. Historically, the first cluster bomb in the United States was developed in the 1950s by Ralph M. Parsons Company. Its identity number was E86 and was originally developed to disperse chemical and biological agents among enemy populations during war. After chemical and biological warfare fell out of favor with those servants of Mars who plan wars, the concept was modified so that the bombs would explode in the air. The explosion releases hundreds of bomblets which fall to the ground, creating a sort of minefield. The primary type being sent to Ukraine is the Mk 20 Rockeye II, which is considered an anti-tank weapon but was used by the US military during the first US attack on Iraq on numerous types of targets. According to Globalsecurity.org, US Marines used the weapon extensively against armor, artillery, and personnel targets. The remainder were dropped by Air Force and Navy aircraft. (accessed 7/8/2023)
Let’s Be Clear, Cluster Bombs are an Escalation
These weapons are devastating to children and civilians….why? They are shiny small objects that look like toys….
They look more like toys than weapons of death and maiming. Bright yellow, red or black, some resemble whiffle balls, others miniature windmills, robots and Transformers. They’re too tempting for any girl or boy to ignore, let alone kids from isolated villages in the hinterlands of a country where nearly three-quarters of the population live in grinding poverty. That country is Laos. And the illusory playthings are cluster bombs.
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/11/1186949348/us-cluster-munitions-civilian-casualties-laos
These ‘cute’ little trinkets can keep killing and maiming long after the war is over.
If the use by Russia is a war crime then the use by Ukraine is a war crime and the US is responsible.
Then Putin reminds everyone involved….
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned Ukraine that its military is not the only one with cluster munitions. And should Ukraine use them against his nation during their war, Putin said, Russia “reserves the right to take reciprocal action.” The message was delivered in a Rossiya TV interview put on Telegram on Sunday, USA Today reports. Ukraine has just received a US shipment of cluster munitions but says it hasn’t used any yet, per CNN.
But that is the American way hypocritical to the bitter end.
This will not end well is my feeling….how about you?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
It’s the same old narrative.
Russia, Iraq, Syria, (whoever) use them. BAD! WAR CRIME!
Western country (any) uses them. GOOD! NOT WAR CRIME!
More money for the munitions factories.
Best wishes, Pete.
Weapons banned in 100 countries but not the US….chuq
Biden’s rhetoric aside, it’s by definition not an escalation. One can only escalate by exceeding parity. Ukraine has miles to go before they ‘escalate’.
Semantics aside….those are bad weapons and if it is a crime for one side to usde then it is a crime for other side to use….that in my book is beyond the pail. chuq
Thanks for this, especially for the graphic. Shipments of cluster bombs are an indication NATO is running low on other kinds of munitions to ship
I know…but to use these shows desperation in my book. Thanx for the visit. chuq
They are good for taking out tanks though?
And kids and other small creatures. chuq
They are good against tanks though, and frankly, if you have studied the Israel/Palestine Conflict you know that people under occupation are allowed to do just about anything within reason, which is why Palestine (Rightly, Israel is a brutal occupier with no moral scruples) almost never get’s charged for anything it does.
By the way, speaking of Israel/Palestine look what Bibi is doing while Putin continues his mad war. Bibi is straight up revving up for full-scale ethnic cleansing.
This is why more than ever we need to defend the rights of victims of imperialism Western or Eastern.
I totally agree….any debt that the world owed Israel for WW2 has been paid in spades….they need to be help accountable for their actions. chuq
Also just to be clear, the aftermath will affect Ukraine’s own population. If Ukraine wants to resist Russian Imperialism this way then let it, we can’t let big countries like the US, Russia or Major European Powers bully smaller nations. The UN is as flawed as the League of Nations before it. With the way people in Palestine, Kurdistan, Tibet, and other such places are being treated, we need a powerful world body with a working army to stop these abuses. I don’t know how that will happen but it needs to.
Also just to be clear, the aftermath will affect Ukraine’s own population. If Ukraine wants to resist Russian Imperialism this way then let it, we can’t let big countries like the US, Russia or Major European Powers bully smaller nations. The UN is as flawed as the League of Nations before it. With the way people in Palestine, Kurdistan, Tibet, and other such places are being treated, we need a powerful world body with a working army to stop these abuses. I don’t know how that will happen but it needs to.
I think the UN could work if they get rid of the BS of permanent members on the Security Council….a group of 5 that can veto any move for normalcy or equality. I agree it needs to happen…the problem is few want to live up to their commitments….take the Outer Space Treaty of 1967….that is totally ignored these days and the US signed it. chuq
What has to be done has to be done… there were massive civilian casualties in world war II…it is part of the cost of war…collateral damage …no escaping it…if the new weapons can do something to slow the Russian onslaught, then all power to them…I personally think NATO should call Putin’s bluff and bomb the hell out of Moscow as a start.
That is an excuse for unnecessary deaths….we had rather someone else do the deed so we can pretend we are morally superior. chuq
Call his bluff– I believe he would tuck tail and run if NATO invaded his ass.
You really think NATO has the nuts to do this? chuq
No I do not but—-somebody has to do it.
And that is the subject of another post coming soon to a blog near you. chuq