You are currently browsing the Wetshadows weblog archives for the day 4. December 2008.
4. December 2008 by admin.
If you read and stay current on what’s going on in the world–that is to say, you don’t rely solely on CNN, Fox, or network news to keep you informed–I believe you tend to be cynical on some level about the nature of humanity and our seeming species-level desire to extinguish ourselves. But even so, there are some things I read which just amaze me, because they are simultaneously so venal and so easily avoided/done away with/eradicated if there was even a slight will to do.
Two cases in point, though the list these days is endless, both from www.DemocracyNow.org (one of the only news-sources that matters to me these days):
Around 100 nations have begun signing a new international treaty banning the use of cluster bombs. Human Rights Watch has described the ban as the most significant arms control and humanitarian treaty in a decade. The convention bans use, stockpiling and trading of the weapons. It also requires signatories to clear contaminated areas within ten years. A signing ceremony is being held today in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Norway was the first country to sign the treaty, followed by Laos and Lebanon, two countries who have been most affected by cluster bombs. The United States, China, Russia, Israel, India and Pakistan have rejected the ban.
Thomas Nash of the Cluster Munition Coalition: “There are some countries in the world that don’t seem to like to sign international treaties. The US, Russia and China are three that come to mind, many treaties that they have not signed. They won’t be here in Oslo next week, and we regret that. Those countries, if they want to be part of the international community that is protecting civilians in armed conflict, they should sign this treaty in Oslo.”
Washington, Moscow and other non-signers say cluster bombs have legitimate military uses. But according to the group Handicap International, 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, and 27 percent are children.
(Comment: because, of course, we don’t have enough other weapons with which to kill people–banning cluster bombs would create a real hole in our arsenal…)
AND
The Washington Post reports the Bush administration has finalized rules that will make it easier for mountaintop mining companies to dump their waste near rivers and streams. The new rules overhaul a twenty-five-year-old prohibition that has sparked legal and regulatory battles for years. Vernon Haltom of Coal River Mountain Watch said the new rules are a “slap in the face of Appalachian communities.” He said, “My home and thousands of others are now in greater jeopardy.”
(Comment: And we’re still referring to it as the Environmental PROTECTION Agency…)
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