re: Russian media accidently reveal Russia is using banned weapons in Syria

Another question is if the enemy you are using the weapon against is not a member of the treaty or un policy do the rules still apply to the country that is a member?

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A lot of you in this thread don't understand why this is a serious issue.

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I understand completely.

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The Russian Air Force has been dropping cluster and incendiary munitions in populated areas where innocent lives are present.

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Unfortunately, the choice is to fight the enemy or not - not, as you suggest, target areas where civilians might be present. Civilians are always present.

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This is disgusting even for Russian standards.

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I'm not for disproportionate use of force, but logic like yours is why wars are never won, anymore, last much, much longer, and result in, counter-intuitively, greater suffering and death among the civilian population precisely because the stronger nation (typically us, our NATO allies or some combination) refuses to pursue victory out of some misguided notion that we can somehow fight a bloodless war.

#1 - Achieve victory

#2 - Pursue #1 as expeditiously and efficiently as possible.

Everything else takes care of itself. Trust me.

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Another question is if the enemy you are using the weapon against is not a member of the treaty or un policy do the rules still apply to the country that is a member?

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Who gives a shite. Weapons bans are stupid. It's OK to kill people but only if you kill them with a "humane" weapon? War is war... it's ugly and people die.

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The Convention on Cluster Munitions? Russia isn't a part of that... and wait for it... neither is the U.S

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If I'm reading the article correctly, It's not the fact these are cluster bombs that makes them illegal. It's the fact their sub-munitions are incendiary devices and the fact the Russians are dropping them over civilian areas. This is a violation of Protocol III of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons ( LINK) of which Russia is a signatory member.

It's war. You're either in it to win it, or you get a bunch of people killed for nothing.


"Merica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sweet they're using helmets from the movie Spaceballs.

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Inhumane way to kill people.

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As far as ISIS is concerned, the more inhumane the better. Terminate with extreme prejudice.

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They're not blowing up terrorists, they're attacking opponents of the Assad regime. They rarely if ever attack ISIS or related groups.

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That's bullshite. Assad, though he is a murderous thug who gases his own people, is the most rational and secular actor there right now. Let that sink in. The man who uses chemical weapons is also the guy who is most friendly to Western culture. Why do you think the one country that supports Russia's actions is Israel? They understand realpolitik. You think the rebels that we back are pro-Western? No. Actually they're anti-Assad but very hardline Islamist. That's why Kerry accepted the ceasefire. It was his cop-out. We may not like Assad's HR record but I bet someone like Kissinger would understand why he's the best option.

And if you can use a war to test out new weapons etc, why not? This is the Russian military's coming out party. THOSE PEOPLE WANT TO KILL WESTERNERS!

Russia isn't fighting ISIS and they aren't fighting anyone that poses a real threat to anyone but the Assad regime. The targets they are hitting are in highly populated areas with dumb munitions that aren't even killing their intended targets.

It is disgusting to defend that kind of bombing. On the other hand, the US-led coalition has been using precision bombing on low-risk, high-reward targets where there's little risk of civilian casualties.

Even then, Russia has chosen not to attack ISIS when the SyAA is advancing on their capital, Raqqa, and has chosen to bomb these highly populated areas where women and children are present.

The international community should come down as hard on the Russians for using these munitions as they did Assad for using banned chemical weapons on his own people not too long ago.

Ooops.