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muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 09:35 AM Jun 2014

U.S. to no longer produce anti-personnel landmines

Source: Reuters

The United States announced on Friday that it will no longer produce or seek to acquire anti-personnel landmines, deadly weapons that the United Nations says results in many civilian casualties.

A White House statement said the United States will not seek to replace expiring stockpiles of landmines. The announcement was made in Maputo, Mozambique, by the U.S. delegation attending a conference to review compliance with the Ottawa Convention, a global Mine Ban Treaty which became international law in 1999.
...
The White House said the United States is pursuing solutions that would ultimately allow the United States to accede to the Ottawa Convention.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/27/uk-usa-landmines-obama-idUKKBN0F218220140627



That's a bit of good news. About time the US signed the treaty.
33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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U.S. to no longer produce anti-personnel landmines (Original Post) muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 OP
a partial measure, and 15 years overdue, but a positive development nt geek tragedy Jun 2014 #1
Good, but long overdue IronLionZion Jun 2014 #2
Same here Tetris_Iguana Jun 2014 #8
That would have been on my "things I'd like Obama to get done" list bhikkhu Jun 2014 #3
Good move. Now destroy the stockpile. mahannah Jun 2014 #4
shit. now dig up the ones in the ground. mopinko Jun 2014 #23
Now watch Republicans claim this will leave our bases wide open for attack. Spitfire of ATJ Jun 2014 #5
Yeah, how does weak-on-terror Obama expect us to blow the legs off little terrorist children now? tclambert Jun 2014 #6
I've heard Republicans call for mining our borders.... Spitfire of ATJ Jun 2014 #7
Rec! progressoid Jun 2014 #9
Glad to hear it! I've actually been working on a program.... Adrahil Jun 2014 #10
rats are clever bastards. mopinko Jun 2014 #24
Jeezzzzzz lsewpershad Jun 2014 #11
Does this mean that we'll be buying them from China instead? Orrex Jun 2014 #12
"... no longer produce or seek to acquire ..." (nt) muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 #13
No, the Chinese do not make the premier mines Big_Mike Jun 2014 #20
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Jun 2014 #14
Wpmderfi;! K&R. JDPriestly Jun 2014 #15
Only 'cause landmines are so '90's, we have drones now. joanbarnes Jun 2014 #16
"The United States has not produced landmines since 1997.." hack89 Jun 2014 #17
Who needs landmines? We have cluster bombs. Downwinder Jun 2014 #18
k&r Soylent Brice Jun 2014 #19
Great news dreamnightwind Jun 2014 #21
Long overdue LTG Jun 2014 #22
Kudos to the administration! grahamhgreen Jun 2014 #25
A step in the right direction. hedgehog Jun 2014 #26
I agree with your summary: It is about time!!!!! emsimon33 Jun 2014 #27
Apparently they plan to replace the landmines in the DMZ with some kind of newer technology davidpdx Jun 2014 #28
The Ottawa Treaty only bans antipersonnel landmines jmowreader Jun 2014 #30
Good question, I'm not sure davidpdx Jun 2014 #31
I've worked out of Guard Post Collier, which is on the DMZ jmowreader Jun 2014 #32
Good and well past time. TheKentuckian Jun 2014 #29
Good move jamzrockz Jun 2014 #33

bhikkhu

(10,708 posts)
3. That would have been on my "things I'd like Obama to get done" list
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 09:50 AM
Jun 2014

if I had any hopes, after so much US disinterest in the whole tragic subject. Good and surprising news!

tclambert

(11,080 posts)
6. Yeah, how does weak-on-terror Obama expect us to blow the legs off little terrorist children now?
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 11:01 AM
Jun 2014

I bet Dick Cheney wouldn't have banned landmines. I bet he'd have approved ones designed to look like toys. Because America needs to prove how tough we are. And freedom!

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
7. I've heard Republicans call for mining our borders....
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 11:05 AM
Jun 2014

They get a real thrill over the thought of a pregnant woman from Mexico getting turned into red mist.

 

Adrahil

(13,340 posts)
10. Glad to hear it! I've actually been working on a program....
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 11:58 AM
Jun 2014

... to build devices to train rats to detect landmines and mark them for removal by EOD personnel.

Big_Mike

(509 posts)
20. No, the Chinese do not make the premier mines
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 02:47 PM
Jun 2014

That honor belongs to the Italians. They are the top producers and the Russians are a close second.

I am deeply conflicted about this.

On one hand, you get places like Bosnia and Afganistan where millions were emplaced and forgotten about. Then you have idiots like Noriega who placed minefields in sandy beaches where the mines be moved easily due to tides and such, and are not to be found when you try to remove them.

On the other, I see places like the DMZ in Korea, where all that keeps the anti-tank mines emplaced from being removed simply by walking by is the presence and threat of anti-personnel mines. The anti-personnel mines are there to protect the troops by slowing the enemy advance and giving them time to bring all the defenses on line. This is at its base a troop protection measure. Minefields such as these are recorded and the records verified every so often (not a well liked job!). We no longer train to emplace the old style minefields, but the records of those emplaced over the years remain.

hack89

(39,171 posts)
17. "The United States has not produced landmines since 1997.."
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 01:24 PM
Jun 2014

Seems like the announcement doesn't really change anything. I suspect that the military has decided that there is simply no military need to produce more because their present stock of mines is adequate.

LTG

(215 posts)
22. Long overdue
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 04:27 PM
Jun 2014

But I wonder if the Senate will ever ratify it. A number of treaties over the years have been signed by Presidents, but never ratified.

As an aside, back in the 90's my brother was asked to create and oversee a prosthetics clinic in Hanoi. He managed to get an export license for Apple Macs to run scanners, and design and produce parts by CADCAM. It was able to produce limbs faster, better fitting and from higher tech materials than many thought wise. But they survive much better in rice paddies and difficult environments.

It was bankrolled by a charity that was initially started by an eastern Washington pototato farmer who had lost a limb as a pilot during the Vietnam Nam War.

For a number of years he was sent by the government to land mine hotspots to teach surgeons how to best do amputations to maximize use of prosthetics. All the tourists attractions of the world, Laos, Cambodia, Kosovo, El Salvador and others. The main purpose of his research at the time was for the VA.

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
28. Apparently they plan to replace the landmines in the DMZ with some kind of newer technology
Sat Jun 28, 2014, 05:20 AM
Jun 2014
On Friday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. government will neither acquire new landmines nor replace existing stockpiles. The U.S. also will pursue technological alternatives to landmines so that it can eventually join the Ottawa Convention, under which landmines are banned.


Full story:

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140627/NEWS/306270094/New-landmine-policy-will-not-affect-Korea-s-DMZ

Here is an old article from Men's Journal on the wildlife in the DMZ, pretty amazing:

http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/the-korean-demilitarized-zone-is-the-worlds-wildest-border-20131205

jmowreader

(50,447 posts)
30. The Ottawa Treaty only bans antipersonnel landmines
Mon Jun 30, 2014, 05:13 AM
Jun 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Treaty

Among the things not banned by this treaty are "anti-handling devices" and "mixed mines." I wonder...could the people who constructed the treaty, knowing mines are one of the few things that keep the North Korean People's Army inside North Korea, have stuck weasel terms in there to allow the UN to maintain minefields inside the DMZ?

davidpdx

(22,000 posts)
31. Good question, I'm not sure
Mon Jun 30, 2014, 05:22 AM
Jun 2014

I'm not an expert on that. I've been up there and seen it first hand. Scary shit. My house is 26 km south of the border.

 

jamzrockz

(1,333 posts)
33. Good move
Mon Jun 30, 2014, 06:25 AM
Jun 2014

Those things linger long after the conflict is over and end up hurting a lot of civilians. Plus we have much more accurate weapons to replace it.

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