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TechnoratiCanada Defends Clause Softening Impact of Cluster-Bomb Pact
DUBLIN-More than 100 nations, including Canada, formally agreed yesterday to ban the use of cluster bombs, but debate continued on loopholes that could benefit powers such as the United States, which refused to take part in talks on a ban.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged states to quickly sign and ratify the draft treaty, which was declared adopted after no delegation objected to the text formulated after almost two weeks of talks among the 111 nations here.
The United States, China and Russia have rejected the pact. Israel, which made widespread use of cluster bombs during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, has reiterated its intention to go on using them. India and Pakistan are also notable non-signatories of the treaty.
Cluster munitions contain "bomblets" that are scattered from planes or by artillery shells and that detonate like mines. The bomblets can cause indiscriminate injury, often lying unexploded for months or years until accidentally stepped on, often by children.
The accord's impact has been softened by a clause known as Article 21 that allows troops of a signatory state to co-operate with an ally that uses the weapons, such as the U.S.
"Others have referred to Article 21 as a loophole," Earl Turcotte, spokesperson for the Canadian delegation, told the gathering.
"We have referred to it as an essential element of legal protection to accommodate situations in combined operations which may be beyond our control."
Campaigners say they aimed at ensuring that countries avoid using the clause to allow non-signatories to stockpile the munitions or help in joint operations where cluster bombs were being deployed.
"I can't understand how you'd say there are big holes in the treaty," said Thomas Nash of umbrella group Cluster Munition Coalition.
The U.N. Development Program says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
© Thomson Reuters 2008
27 Comments so far
Show AllSeems to me that Canada is rapidly moving right. The same stuff we see in the US is emerging here. Media is more right wing. The free-market model is in absolute ascendency and Canadians are much more open to right wing messages. A very similar (one-party with two heads) political dynamic has developed. With respect to Afghanistan, even the same emotive words are used in the press (mission, freedom/democacy, support the troops [with yellow ribbons])
Harper is a traitor. He's quickly ruining Canada's good name in international affairs. He's destroying the country and bending over time and time again for the Americans, yet his poll numbers are going up! WTF!!! I think there's some fundamental changes in the Canadian population that is making right-wing politics more attractive. It's sad really. I blame Alberta.
for those who want an idea of what Harper's really about, here's an article he wrote for Christian Coalition International in 2003 long before he got close to power.
http://www.ccicinc.org/politicalaffairs/060103.html
I mean to type "He (Harper) believes in biblical prophecy" not "biblical philosophy". My apologies.
Given the numerous translations in history, the cherry-picking or at least levelling and sharpening of that which we want to believe or which is expedient for the time, I have little faith in any absolute interpretation of any non-original historical document. Anyone who doubts the creeping errors on repeated translations need only play a game of Chinese Whispers to convince themselves.
Likewise any dead language may have nuances or expressions that can no longer be understood with precision. For example the expression "I have run out of work" could easily be mistranslated to mean that you ran from your workplace, or the benign English "drop by" expression "I will come and knock you up in the evening" can take on a whole new meaning in North America.
Extremes of religion invariably go for the literal translations rather than a metaphorical translation with the age and culture of the time factored in and that can only lead to trouble.
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MiMiCcS May 31st, 2008 10:33 pm
Canada is going fascist with this Harper dude. They are basically our 51st state, they just don't know it yet. Kiss your HC system good bye. Thats already been agreed. In return, we will provide you with security and help you extract the tar sands that will destroy your environment. Americas toast, but Canadians still have time to wake up. Time is running out.
You're an idiot. Plain and simple. This line of reasoning - if one can call it that - is absolutely ridiculous. Canada as a nation is not represented by the uber-business Harper and this land mass belongs to the whole Earth - not to the rusting empire below it.
Do everyone here a favor - pull your head out of your ass and think before you post.
The focus should be on banning any weapon that hit people indiscriminately. Not just Cluster bomb.
On the other hand, if a smart cluster bomb will be advanced enough to be selective on whom it hit (Militant yes, civilians no) than it shouldn't be banned.
Things are taking a rightward turn up here in Canada. Our legendary apathy is going to cost us. Someone said it better than I "We're so proud we're not the bully, but we hold the bully's coat."
"We" extradited Mark Emery for 'Pot-crime'.
"We" denied refuge to US national guardsman Cory Glass when he refused to go to Iraq.
"We" faked and deked on Kyoto.
Now "we" are allowing a loophole so that child-killing devices can still be marketed.
Which "We" is this anyway? It's no Canadian I know.
Hang in there folks! Steve's time is coming and Harpy's goin' down! Patience. Have you been following Maxime Bernier (aka now former Minister of Foreign Affairs)and his "blonde" and the sex scandal that just won't go away? (Hmmm I think Max misunderstood the "affairs" part of his title.) I love it when a man mistakes his penis for a brain.
MiMiCcS - right on. I liked it better when we were Soviet Canuckistan.
Harper - absolute blind support for Bush and Israel.
I'm still proud to be a Canadian, but ashamed of this bootlicking toady beyond measure.
Bush is going down hard (it appears to me) and taking most of the foul cretins who supported or associated with him. Hopefully, Harper will be one of them.
check out http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/ for Canadian news that keeps a close eye on Harper and Canada's slide to the right.
" "I can't understand how you'd say there are big holes in the treaty," said Thomas Nash of umbrella group Cluster Munition Coalition."
No 'hole in the Treaty', just in lots-of-innocents (the worst-offenders are 'allowed' to continue, while the rest of the world disarms/divests-itself of inhumane weaponry). "What, Me Worry...?"
We cannot expect Russia and China to join this pact while the USA refuses--Our non-cooperation in carbon pollution mitigation, which has provided China and India with excuses to sidestep this issue, is an example. If the US were to join this pact,they could then coerce China and Russia to followng suite.
Our use of such weapons have no tactical benifits, but instead provide the terrorists with justification for thier bombings.
Harper is an Evangelical Christian and represents the Religious Right minority in Canada. He believes in biblical philosophy and supports Israel absolutely and unconditionally. He has been very cunning in hiding the religious side from most voters and is very adept at appealing to the lowest common denominator. Sound familiar? As an Armageddon facilitator he is a very dangerous man, prevented from major damage only because his is a minority government. However he is a major anti-global warming warrior and has managed to inflict damage at every turn. Heaven help us if he gets a majority. Canada's only hope may be Harper himself; his lack of empathy and blinding narcissism may be his undoing yet -aided by his less than stellar cabinet that he keeps on a short leash. They consist of amateurs tripping over themselves embarrassingly and/or religious fundamentalists that are deep into creationism, the world being only a few thousand years old and man scampering about with Tyrannosaurus Rex etc.
Wish us luck, please.
Burn carbon! Run up the CO2! Destroy the planet and them with it!
Canada is going fascist with this Harper dude. They are basically our 51st state, they just don't know it yet. Kiss your HC system good bye. Thats already been agreed. In return, we will provide you with security and help you extract the tar sands that will destroy your environment. Americas toast, but Canadians still have time to wake up. Time is running out.
I agree. can i still keep my assault rifle though, to fend off the Globalists when they get their way?
I know it's a flawed treaty, but we should not slack off. Next up for banning---depleted uranium. And then let's do something about napalm and all fire-based weapons.
These people are actually out to make the planet uninhabitable with chemical, nuclear, biological waste and now with mine fields. Kindergarteners could do a better job of governing.
You guys are asking businessmen to give up a product that is a big money maker. These are toys for minor league wars and conflicys around the world. These low priced bombs mean even cash-strapped countries, and crazy religious zelots, can contribute to the coffers of the empire. These are good sellers for small time operators who can start conflicts and hope to reap the benefits of combat and maybe make it to the big leagues. These bombs are like the bait to get countries to buy something bigger and better.
Hoa binh
I think Dion is playing it smart the longer Harper is in power the more he screws up.
How about a travel ban to countries who keep using them. That includes diplomats as well. No flights to or from China, Russia Israel, USA. I know it would hurt trade but f em
You can bet your bottom dollar that Harpo (Canada's PM, Steven Harper) got his marching orders from his buddy GWB on that manoeuver. And I would suspect that a few other NATO nations weren't exactly sorry to see that clause removed either. It might have forced them to stand up to the US pre-declared refusal to remove stockpiles from their overseas bases.
I think that the U.S. has a policy of rejecting cluster bombs that work too well. The excuse is that it is too expensive to make them reliable. The reason might really be is that the 'duds' keep the murdered and maimed from being rescued. Or orphans from picking flowers for graveyards...
seems to me that none of you know shit.
seems to me you're the ones pigeon-holing the entire nation of canada based on what you read and hear and see in the media.
WTF is wrong with you?
The banning of the use of cluster bombs by one hundred nations is a good step forward. Canada's Harper is just another inflexible neo-con whose policies are representative of the worst thinking of the last century. He, like Bush, reflects a severe almost desperate reaction to change. Those of this mindset whose mental laziness requires that they surround themselves with like minded people concretize their beliefs in an insular group not representative of the larger society. Then when the narrowness of their beliefs confront societal problems the results are Neanderthal.
Pathetic but typical.
"The United States, China and Russia have rejected the pact." does anyone remember those tests in kindergarden, when they give you three words or objects, and you are asked to rationally decide WHAT DOESNT BELONG.?