President Biden has reportedly agreed to send cluster munitions or bombs to Ukraine as part of a new military aid package totaling about $800 million.
The move is considered highly controversial as the weapons pose a serious threat to civilians – especially children – due to the release of smaller bombs that decompose and remain active for years after release.
More than 100 countries, including key NATO allies, signed a 2010 agreement which prohibits the use and transfer of cluster munitions.
While none of the countries involved in this decision — the United States, Ukraine, and Russia — have signed that agreement, a 2009 U.S. law also prohibits the transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate greater than 1%.
A Pentagon spokesman said the impending transfer to Ukraine comes with bombs having a failure rate up to 2.35%.
The president has the power to waive the rule.
Cluster bombs are banned by a convention signed by more than 100 countries, including many NATO allies. Due to their massive toll on civilians, their use has long been viewed as a war crime (including by the US when used by Bad Countries™),
Biden is now sending them to Ukraine 🇺🇦. https://t.co/qhWQ66T4bl
—Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 7, 2023
RELATED: Trump slams Biden’s escalation and sends tanks to Ukraine: warns next ‘Come the Nukes’
Former press secretary once called the use of cluster munitions a ‘war crime’
Former White House press secretary and current MSNBC host Jen Psaki shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the former national use of cluster munitions a potential ‘war crime’.
“I have no confirmation of that. We’ve seen the reports,” Psaki said last February of news that Russia may have used “illegal cluster bombs and vacuum bombs.”
“If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime,” she continued.
WH Press Sec. Jen Psaki on the use of cluster and vacuum bombs against Ukrainian civilians: “It would potentially be a war crime.” pic.twitter.com/8YytmwDhw1
— The Recount (@therecount) February 28, 2022
One human rights coalition protested against their implementation in the war by stating that cluster munitions “inflict devastating damage on civilians, especially children, years after a conflict has ended”.
Ukraine and Russia have both, according to various accounts, used the bombs in the course of the current conflict.
Despite past and present media reports and pro-war legislators insisting that Ukraine easily defeats Russia in the war, a New York Times report indicates that the ammunition is needed precisely because of the opposite.
Van Websters: “Losing: “When you get crushed badly in a war and have to return to nuclear threats, nobody takes that seriously. Eg: “Russia is losing the war in Ukraine so badly.” https://t.co/AFvDynSimO
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) July 1, 2023
“Mr. Biden and his aides have been trying to delay the decision, hoping the tide of the war would turn in Ukraine’s favor,” the Times writes, adding that an official insisted it was clear that the weapons “ 100 percent necessary”.
The hope of a turning tide seems to indicate that Ukraine was not winning. The fact that these hopes never materialized means that they still aren’t.
An announcement of the latest military aid package to Ukraine is expected on Friday.
Biden is exacerbating the situation in Ukraine by sending them banned cluster munitions. The future children of the land will grow up limbless.
These weapons are not a game changer. They are a last resort.
According to the NYT:
Cluster munitions bombs are generally… pic.twitter.com/0v3xXmGOKR
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 7, 2023
RELATED: Trump makes an impassioned plea for peace and an end to the war in Ukraine
Biden’s latest escalation
President Biden’s move to arm Ukraine with cluster munitions is the latest move that can be defined as an escalation in Ukraine’s war effort.
Bloomberg News writes that the The United States has been supplying Ukraine with “increasingly powerful systems” such as M1 Abrams tanks since the start of the Russian invasion.
Some of those weapons, such as the cluster bombs, were once frowned upon by the president and his administration.
Biden initially told reporters that sending tanks to Ukraine essentially amounted to “World War III.”
NATO sends tanks to fight Russia.
In the past 24 hours, France, Germany and the US said they would send armored vehicles to Ukraine.
In March, Biden said sending “tanks” to Ukraine is called “World War III.” pic.twitter.com/Y3eMNuR1wG
—Andre Damon (@Andre__Damon) January 5, 2023
The use of cluster munitions, which is considered potentially lethal to civilians despite current US law and negative international attitudes towards civilians, can also be seen in some quarters as a harbinger of further endless world war.
The news comes between reports that a handful of former senior national security officials have tried privately to negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
NBC News reported on the “back-channel diplomacy” officials are currently engaged in, noting, “The US and its allies are eager to send Moscow and Kiev to peace talks in the fall.”
Oh damn yes.
This is the best news in a year and a half.https://t.co/CmjC39bt7D
— Scott Horton (@scotthortonshow) July 6, 2023
It is unclear how the government sees arming Ukraine with cluster munitions in July as a path to peace talks “in the fall”.
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