31 January 2020, 10:28 PM
ShiroKuro
quote:US President Donald Trump has lifted restrictions on the deployment of anti-personnel landmines by American forces.
The decision reverses a 2014 Obama administration ban on the use of such weapons, which applied everywhere in the world except for in the defence of South Korea.
The Trump administration said Mr Obama's policy could put US troops "at a severe disadvantage".
Thousands of people are injured and killed by landmines every year.
US forces will now be free to use the weapons across the world "in exceptional circumstances", the White House said.
The US is not a signatory to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which restricts the development or use of anti-personnel land mines.
What has changed?
The Obama-era ban applied to the US military everywhere but on the Korean Peninsula. That exception was made under pressure from military planners, to protect US troops based across the de-militarized zone from the North Korean military.
Mr Obama also ordered the destruction of landmine stockpiles not made to defend South Korea. But the Trump administration has now scrapped that policy, stating that the president was "rebuilding" the US military.
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We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love… and then we return home. - Australian Aboriginal proverb
Bazootiehead-in-training
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My piano recordings at Box.Net: https://app.box.com/s/j4rgyhn72uvluemg1m6u
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The earth laughs in flowers
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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
quote:Originally posted by RealPlayer:
As a friend said on FB, all our problems would be over if someone told Trump Obama can hold his breath for 20 minutes.
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The earth laughs in flowers