Friday, May 30, 2008

Cluster bomb ban does not include US, China, Russia or Israel.

Nothing is said in the artcile about Canada.
This is from CBC (via AP)
Apparently the US and NATO got their way in that joint exercises between signatories and non-signatories can use the bombs. We can still participate with the US in Afghanistan or elsewhere even though the US might use cluster bombs. There is a new axis of evil: U.S., China, Russia, Israel et al.

111 countries adopt landmark treaty banning cluster bombs
Last Updated: Friday, May 30, 2008 1:13 PM ET
The Associated Press
A member of the mines advisory group inspects a cluster bomb unit in the southern village of Ouazaiyeh, Lebanon, in November 2006. (Mohammed Zaatari/Associated Press)
Diplomats from 111 countries have formally adopted a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs, but some of the biggest makers and users of them including the United States, Russia and China didn't participate.
The 12 days of negotiations in Dublin that culminated in the treaty ended after diplomats from scores of countries delivered speeches embracing the landmark accord.
It requires signatories not to use cluster bombs, to destroy existing stockpiles within eight years and to fund programs that clear old battlefields of unexploded cluster-bombs.
Many speakers appealed to the cluster-bomb-making countries that boycotted the talks, particularly the United States, to accept its conclusions.
Despite the U.S. boycott, the treaty adopted Friday contains several concessions sought by Washington, including one that allows treaty signatories to co-operate militarily with states that do not sign the document.
Earlier drafts sought to prohibit such co-operation, an idea fought by the U.S. and its NATO allies on grounds it would make joint alliance work difficult if not impossible.
On Monday, U.S. activists and global victims of cluster bombs issued a joint appeal for a ban on the munitions, saying they kill and maim too many civilians.
The talks, which moved to Dublin this month, were hampered by the fact that the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs — the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan — didn't participate.
The pact will be formally signed in December in Norway, where treaty talks began in February 2007.
© The Canadian Press,

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