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‘EVERYTHING IS BURNING’: United States-provided cluster munitions made their debut on the battlefields of Ukraine this week, with Ukrainian commanders reporting they are making a difference as efforts continue to break through Russian defenses. “We have gotten some initial feedback from the Ukrainians, and they're using them quite effectively,’ NSC spokesman John Kirby said in a White House briefing. “They're using them appropriately … and they are actually having an impact on Russia's defensive formations and Russia's defensive maneuvering.” Intercepted messages posted on Twitter by a pro-Ukrainian media platform indicate the controversial weapons are having a psychological impact on entrenched...

Ukrainian forces began firing US-provided cluster bombs on Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. Using cluster bombs in battle is a war crime. Joe Biden continues to destroy America’s reputation in the world. The Washington Post reported. The Washington Post @washingtonpost · Follow Ukraine has begun firing U.S.-provided cluster munitions against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine in a push to break up well-fortified Russian positions that have slowed Ukraine’s summer offensive, according to Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter.… Show more The Biden administration decided two weeks ago to send thousands of cluster bombs to Ukraine despite these bombs being banned...

Though ordinary people might consider telling the world we are out of ammunition or severely depleting our strategic petroleum reserves to be unforced errors, However, MSNBC's Chris Matthews contends that "Biden is a brilliant strategist. I'd put him on a par with FDR's leadership during World War II. He has united NATO as never before and cleverly maneuvered Russia into a debilitating war with Ukraine." Former President Trump called Matthews proclamation of Biden's genius "idiotic. Funding Ukraine's war with Russia has been a colossal blunder. It has multiplied the casualties for both sides, depleted our armaments, and dragged us nearer...

VIDEOA desperate drug addicted dictator is losing a war so he orders the use of vengeance weapons against his enemy. This sounds like something from 80 years ago but it is happening now in the Ukraine where Zelensky is demanding the use of the V-3 Cluster Bomb vengeance weapons. And weirdly, the USA will give it to him. Why? Because, according to Joe Biden, we have run out of ammo so that justifies the use of cluster bombs. Using that line of reasoning it could lead to the use of even more terrible weapons. Don't believe me, Zelensky himself now...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that President Joe Biden’s decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine was needed because the nation would have been “defenseless” without it. Mitchell said, “You have talked about NATO’s unity. There is disagreement over the cluster munitions, clearly. More than 100 nations have banned them. We knew that this counteroffensive was coming. By many reports, it’s bogged down, it’s difficult, the Russians are dug in. So why didn’t we earlier supply enough conventional munitions so that they would have enough ammunition without resorting to these deadly weapons?”

The escalatory move is also an admission of Ukraine's failure, a senior Russian diplomat has said The US decision to include cluster munitions in its latest batch of military aid to Kiev is an admission of failure and a desperate attempt to stave off defeat, Russian ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said on Friday. "Cluster munitions are a gesture of desperation. Such a measure speaks of the awareness of the United States and its satellites of their impotence," Antonov told reporters. "However, they do not want to admit their own setbacks and the failure of the Ukrainian military's attempts to...

Q Thanks, Jen. There are reports of illegal cluster bombs and vacuum bombs being used by the Russians. If that’s true, what is the next step of this administration? And is there a red line for how much violence will be tolerated against civilians in this manner that’s illegal and potentially a war crime? MS. PSAKI: It is — it would be. I don’t have any confirmation of that. We have seen the reports. If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime. Obviously, there are a range of international fora that would assess that. So, certainly, we...

US President Joe Biden has reportedly made the decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine's armed forces to enable troops to target well-entrenched Russian forces on the front lines. The US administration is expected to formally announce this action on Friday (July 7) as part of a new military aid package valued at $800million.

Amnesty International said an analysis of an official Feb. 21 video released by the Egyptian military, trumpeting the triumphs of its northern Sinai crackdown on militants, showed one of the weapons, which can kill and maim indiscriminately. Although the video described the weapons as improvised explosive devices planted by the militants, Amnesty said, the markings on one identified it as an American-made Mk-118 anti-tank anti-personnel submunition, "which could only have been dropped by the Egyptian Air Force." Amnesty said the video showed the weapon to be "untampered with and in good condition despite its age," with an identifying number clearly...

Cluster weapons—those mini-bombs that have cost many a civilian their foot or their life—are back. Russia has just unveiled what it describes as a stealth cluster bomb. This comes after the Trump administration scrapped a plan to eliminate cluster weapons by 2019, despite 103 nations signing on to an international agreement to ban production and use of such weapons. So far, 120 nations have joined the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, of which 103 have actually ratified it. Unfortunately, the two biggest arms exporters in the world—America and Russia—have yet to join. Russia is testing the PBK-500U glide bomb, a...

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, has removed US arms giant Raytheon from its blacklist after it stopped manufacturing cluster weapons, Norway’s central bank announced on Wednesday. The fund, worth around 7.42 trillion kroner (€830 billion, $892 billion) and which is subject to strict ethical guidelines, excluded Raytheon from its portfolio in 2005 because of its role in the production of these weapons. International campaigners have long sought a ban on cluster weapons because of the serious danger they pose to civilian populations. …

The Ukrainian military has used cluster munitions numerous times in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists, likely scattering deadly bombs that did not immediately explode and putting civilians at risk, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. An investigation earlier this month found that the weapons were used more than a dozen times in fighting in eastern Ukraine, Human Rights Watch reported. Dozens of countries, including the United States, agreed not to use cluster munitions in a treaty signed in 2008, citing the indiscriminate nature of the weapon. Ukraine has not signed the treaty. “While it was not possible to...

Forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi have reportedly been firing into residential neighborhoods with cluster bombs, which have been banned by much of the world, witnesses told The New York Times on Friday. The newspaper, citing accounts of survivors and physical evidence found on the ground, said such weapons by definition cannot be fired precisely, and thus place civilians lives at great risk when fired into populated areas

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Somali insurgents in the al-Qaida affiliated al-Shabaab organization are planning major attacks Saturday to mark an important Ramadan event, an official said.Saturday marks the 17th day of the holy month of Ramadan, a day commemorating the Battle of Badr when the Islamic prophet Mohammad won a decisive battle in Medina in 624.Abdirahman Omar Osman, the Somali information minister, was quoted by CNN International as saying al-Shabaab was keen to mark the day with a major escalation of violence."Al-Shabaab thinks that this is the best day for them to win against us," he said. The...

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said on Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces has handed over data on cluster bombs fired during the 2006 war with the militant Hezbollah group. The move follows UN and Lebanese calls for information that could help eliminate the threat that has killed more than 20 civilians and wounded about 200 since the fighting.

On 3 December, more than 100 countries, including the UK, will sign a treaty banning cluster bombs. As a result Britain, by law, will have to destroy more than 30 million explosives. The UK does not have the facilities, so they are being exported to Germany for disposal. "I feel good to work for a good thing in the world and for peace," says Jorg Fiegert, production manager for Nammo Demil. It runs a site in Pinnow in Germany which destroys munitions. Over the next five years its work will include taking apart bomblets from British cluster munitions. "It can...

Russian military aircraft have deployed controversial and indiscriminately deadly cluster bombs on civilian areas of Georgia according to an international rights group. Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, said today that it has obtained evidence proving that the weapons, which were banned by more than 100 countries in May, have killed at least 11 people so far during the conflict in the Caucasus. Human Rights Watch said Russian aircraft dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30 PTAB 2.5M submunitions or bomblets, on the town of Ruisi in the Kareli district of Georgia on August 12, 2008 killing...

LONDON — The draft of a treaty to ban cluster munitions was adopted by a group of 111 nations on Wednesday in Dublin after Britain dropped its longstanding opposition to any limitations on the weapons. The sudden shift by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is under pressure to combat his Labor Party’s declining political fortunes, created fresh pressures on the United States, which had counted Britain as one of its staunchest allies in opposing the ban. The treaty, hammered out in two weeks of talks in Dublin, had been under negotiation since February 2007. The nations accepting the treaty are...

The US will no longer be able to stockpile cluster bombs at its military bases in Britain under government proposals for an international ban on the controversial weapons, it emerged last night. As diplomats from more than 100 states unanimously passed a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs around the world, it emerged that British ministers are prepared to go further. The government has agreed to scrap the two types of cluster weapon in the armoury of British forces, but it will also ask the US to get rid of its cluster bombs based here, and it will no...

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- Diplomats say more than 100 nations have reached agreement on a treaty that would ban current designs of cluster bombs. The treaty also would require the destruction of stockpiles within eight years. The breakthrough Wednesday followed agreement on two key sticking points after 10 days of Dublin negotiations. However, the discussions in Ireland did not involve the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs: the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan.