Lagging behind again

The BBC reported today that more than 100 countries are signing a treaty in Oslo that bans current designs of cluster bombs. Then the treaty will go to the UN where more of the 192 member nations can sign. Should we be surprised that the US (along with Russia and China) will not be signing?

These horrendous bombs, loaded with smaller "bomblets," do not always explode. In effect, they become land mines that maim and kill people.

Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Red Cross, says that south-east Asia saw "several hundred million sub-munitions.... dropped and many tens of millions remain today." He adds that civilians in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam "have lived with the threat of unexploded sub-munitions for four decades."

The treaty does not prohibit cluster bombs altogether. It permits the development of more precise bombs with lower failure rates. The US says it is following these criteria already. So then, why not sign and thus speak to the whole world?

Maybe Barack Obama will reverse the stubbornness.

And maybe the world will finally arrive at a total ban on cluster bombs.