Cluster munitions are a drop of water in a hurricaine. Ukrainians will be finding Russian land mines and cluster bombs for the next 100 years. And the Ukranians be using them on tertitory that they believe they own - the big problem with cluster munitions is disinterest in resultant civilian deaths that might result, and Ukranians will care about Ukranian civilian deaths. If they use them in the upcoming Siege of Moscow. I might have issues.
The country is already littered with mines... to be a bit hyperbolic, anywhere that a cluster munition is targeted should already be assumed to have land mines. It will need clearing anyway. Cluster munitions are indiscriminate in that everything in a given area is going to get messed up, the same is true for a 1000lb bomb, the radius determined by altitude at separation, and spin rate. As an example, a CBU-87 can have a kill radius of 130x260 yards, while a conventional bomb like the MK83 has a blast radius of 220 yards. Same weight roughly, and same ballpark for area fubar'ed in the real world. A cluster munition is much more likely to catch someone hiding in a trench than a 1000lb conventional bomb unless it is almost a direct hit. Now the CBU-97 is on another level, and will lay waste to any armored column stupid enough to be less than 500 yards apart. Sub-munition failure rates under 1% compared to ~5% on the older weapons. That would be a game changer.... if Russia ever uses massed armored formations. The real issue is public relations and possible provocation for Russia to escalate with tactical nukes. I think it's worth it, but I'm not in the mud, and it's not my life or country on the line.
We should have taken the gloves off of our "arsenal of democracy" when Russia started targeting civilian populations. Putin's entire MO is seeing how far he can cross a line.... an habitual line crosser.
Saw msnbc report on this last night saying it's a big no no in any war. The report also mentioned there is nothing to negotiate from Ukraine's perspectives. They want Russia completely out of any Ukraine territory. Russia already refers to some land as annexed.
...oh shut up Gerardo. Make yourself useful and go find another prohibition-era gangster's empty vault to open up or something...
I don't get Pro Putin Republicans like Trump and his minions. Don't they know people like them in Russia are arrested for taking an ANTI-WAR stance, and could be serving 5, 10, 15, 20 years in prison, or confined to mental institutions for saying and doing what they do here? Nobody is safe who criticizes Putin. If they said the same stuff about Putin that they say about Biden they would mysteriously disappear off the earth, or be tortured or poisoned. Nobody who speaks out against Putin is safe there.
In the US, if you're anti war, you get labeled Pro-Putin, Trump supporter, MAGA, and a racist. Nobody is safe if you criticize the support for a war that doesn't impact this country.
You are missing my point. I'm talking about people who admire Putin, and defend him, like Trump. I'm talking about people who will lash out against our President, yet support or admire a man who wouldn't hesitate to imprison, torture, or kill them, if they talked about him the way they talk about the leader of their own country, or took any stance against Putin, including an ANTI-WAR stance against a war Putin in lashing.
P.S. Not all Trumpers are racists. Not all Trumpers are against war, but most will defend that traitor and compulsive liar, either because they are dumb as rocks, gullible as hell, or simply because they don't care how crooked he is.
A major commodity exporter blackmailing the world in order to take land does effect the US. Also curious how Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are working more closely to control much of the globes strategic resources. But whatever, has no bearing on the US.
Except this war does impact our country. That you are ignorant of that fact, for some inexplicable reason, is on you, not on the majority of Americans who support our assistance for Ukraine, a democracy invaded by a dictator bent on attempting to recreate a Russian empire that is a creature of the past. As for your strange attempt to portray yourself as a victim for being “anti-war,” the victims are the innocents of Ukraine. Bombarded indiscriminately by Putin’s huge military, murdered and maimed in their thousands. Odd that you have so little sympathy for them.
Its even more odd you have zero empathy for all the other nations that have gone through genocides simply because you feel like their country has no value to you.
In that sense, you are correct. The west places sanctions on this 'major commodity' exporter, which Europe is so dependent. Now energy prices are insanely high for them. US companies who produce excess energy is now selling it as a premium to these Europeans, which is also causing higher energy prices for the US. Meanwhile BRICS who choose not to partake in this embargo are getting cheaper energy. Lets not forget Europe is also using some of the dirtiest forms of energy at the moment.
