For years to come they will be able to use it as a propaganda piece. “All this unexploded ordinance was a direct result of Russia’s horrible bloodthirsty campaign they just suddenly launched with no provocation”.
They will conveniently forget to mention exactly why that ordinance is there or where it came from.
And if you bring up munitions left over from the yanks in Laos, Vietnam, etc - they’ll scream WATABAOOTEEESM until your ears bleed out
WATABAOOTEEESM
When the boot is so far up your throat that no amount of information to the contrary will quell your thirst for blood in the name of the empire.
They’re so effective that they’re even able to kill children a century into the future.
There’s a reason I call them WMDs
Effective at what? Guaranteeing no one lives there ever again?
Sometimes it does feel to be the plan
XX century: lebensraum
XXI century: leerraum
They are a very effective weapon. If you don’t intend on living in the AoE.
Giving Ukraine cluster munitions is another own goal. Not only will this leave Ukraine full of unexploded bombs for decades, it has also given Russia the green light to use their own cluster weapons, of which they have WAY more than the West does and which are more effective against the Ukrainians, who are currently attacking using mostly infantry and lightly armored vehicles, than Ukraine’s cluster munitions are against the Russian defensive entrenched positions. Pure desperation move since by their own admission the West is running out of regular shells.
Cluster bombs should be classified as WMDs imo.
I don’t think so, and frankly i am quite cynical about attempts to regulate this type of weaponry because whatever agreements are made to reduce or eliminate stockpiles of certain types of weapons we know the West has always cheated and kept hidden stocks regardless, including not just cluster munitions but also chemical and biological weapons.
The only real way of ensuring that certain weapons which are too dangerous to civilians are not used, or used as little as possible, is for both sides to know that if they start using them the other side will do so as well which will nullify the military advantage that was supposed to be gained by using them.
But when one side are literal Nazis who are too blinded by their fanaticism and desperation to think even one step ahead about consequences of their actions, not to mention having no regard for civilian life whatsoever beyond trying to avoid too much bad PR that the Western media apparatus can’t sweep under the rug, that deterrent unfortunately disappears.
So basically we rely on MAD?
When neither side trusts each other what else can you do? If you disarm yourself you just give an advantage to the enemy. And until the US empire is defeated it will be a perpetual enemy to all nations that do not want to bend the knee to the unipolar world order. Any apparent detente so far has only turned out to be a ploy to lull the enemies of the US into a false sense of security and into willingly weakening themselves. Libya fell for it and look what happened to them. The DPRK didn’t and they are still around.
Personally I would have a WMD protocol where you aren’t allowed to use it unless the enemy does.
Sure, that’s reasonable, but that was already kind of an unspoken agreement seeing as it is generally acknowledged that cluster munitions are problematic. I mean Russia and the US never banned cluster weapons but a lot of NATO countries did. And yet even those that had an explicit ban not only haven’t said anything or tried to oppose sending these munitions to Ukraine, but some of them even suddenly “found” that they did have some stocks left that they could send.
I’d stock up on cluster munitions just in case shit gets hectic. Also requiring cleaning afterwards.
The only types of WMDs I’m gonna let communist Philippines have are nukes, cluster bombs, and gas. Those things are the most damaging, yes but the scope and the amount of cleanup to do later can be limited if used right. Biological weapons? Big no, I’m not gonna risk making a disease that jumps on humans - especially if it leads to a pandemic down the road - just because I want to defend say against Malaysia. The potential long term effects of biological weapons are simply too dangerous imo.
