Their refusal to sign the treaty is a major reason why it is not working... Chavez support FARC and their use of landmines... Why no condemnation???
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20090422.aspx >>> The 1999 Ottawa Convention was supposed to have reduced land mine >>> casualties among civilians. It hasn't worked, because the largest >>> manufacturers of land mines, Russia and China, refused to sign. Chinese >>> land mines are still available on the international arms black market. >>> China is believed to have a stockpile of over a hundred million land mines >>> (mostly anti-personnel). The old ones are often sold before they become >>> worthless. But even these mines, which go for $5-10 each, are too expensive >>> for many of the criminal organizations that buy them. In Colombia, leftist >>> rebels are losing their four decade war to establish a socialist >>> dictatorship. So they have been using more land mines against soldiers and >>> police, as well as civilian populations they want to control. This was how >>> land mines were widely used in Afghanistan and Cambodia. In Colombia, the >>> rebels find it cheaper to build their own landmines. Labor is cheap, as are >>> the components. Thus land mines, competitive with the factory built ones >>> from China, can be built for less than three dollars each. You can find all >>> the technical data you need on the Internet. Anti-vehicle mines are increasingly popular, and are particularly popular in poor countries where there are still a lot of dirt roads, traveled by busses and trucks carrying dozens of passengers each. While these mines are usually intended for military vehicles, mines can't tell the difference. As a result, in this year or next, Colombia will have the largest number of annual mine casualties in the world. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
