Needs Must

[poliphilo]

 I thought we had all agreed that cluster bombs were a particularly vile and nasty weapon and should be banned...

But that was then and this is now and apparently Ukraine "needs them". 

Comments

[tagryn]

That Rubicon was apparently crossed...well, it was never *not* crossed, at least in the current war. The Russians use them regularly, and the Ukrainians use them from time to time; neither were signees to the 2008 ban. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Use_of_cluster_munitions_in_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine

If one wants to argue whether there's any significant difference between cluster bombs and chemical weapons/WMDs morally, there's probably a point to be made there. My surprise is more that WMDs haven't been used in Ukraine to date, than that cluster munitions have, given the other parallels to World War I warfare there...

[poliphilo]

The particular evil of cluster bombs is that they can hang around go on killing and maiming for generations. Does this put them in a special category? I think it probably should.

[tagryn]

Better analogy might be mines, then? The technology used to spread mines in the current conflict has gone places it never has before as well ( https://www.armyrecognition.com/ukraine_-_russia_conflict_war_2022/russian_army_deploys_in_ukraine_its_new_isdm_zemledeliye_mine_mine-laying_system.html ). Whoever "wins", or at least is left with the land, will have decades of demining ahead of them.

[poliphilo]

It saddens me how much creative energy we spend on clever ways of killing one another.