“A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicles. Other cluster munitions are designed to destroy runways or electric power transmission lines.”— Wikipedia
“The use of cluster bombs, banned by 123 countries, has not helped the Russians achieve their objectives in their brutal war in Ukraine. Neither did the US profit from their use, along with other anti-civilian weapons, in protracted wars in south‑east Asia, nor did either the Soviet Union or the US in their Afghanistan campaigns, against less well‑equipped enemies. Joe Biden’s decision (Joe Biden defends ‘difficult decision’ to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, 8 July) seems more likely to provoke escalation, rather than hasten victory over Russia in what looks increasingly like an unwinnable war for either side.
“The latest move by the US to provide cluster bombs to the Ukrainian forces is simply wrong, not just because they are banned by more than 100 countries, not just because the Russian forces are using them, but because of the impact they have on civilians. It’s not just one bomb to avoid but potentially hundreds, and, though smaller, they are still deadly.”— Dennis Fitzgerald. The Guardian
“In the context of attempts to sanitise these appalling weapons, your editorial on the spoken word (The Guardian view on spoken word poets: powerful voices that are needed today, 7 July) brought to mind the late, great performance poet Adrian Mitchell. His famous poem To Whom It May Concern (Tell Me Lies About Vietnam), inveighing against the 1960s American bombing campaign, contains the memorable lines: “I smell something burning, hope it’s just my brains. They’re only dropping peppermints and daisy-chains.” In these fractured times, and with Labour’s new emphasis on oracy, the need for a resurgence of political performance poetry has never been greater.”
Dr Anthony Isaacs
London
Matt Taibbi and Walter Kirn discuss this cluster bomb topping off of inhumane wars… here
John Joseph Mearsheimer (/ˈmɪərʃaɪmər/; born December 14, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of thought.[3] He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He has been described as the most influential realist of his generation. — Wikipedia
— Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, 1947. “No conceivable justification”
Catholic Critique 