Although 20 member states of the European Union signed a landmark treaty in Oslo banning the use of cluster bombs, one surprising holdout was Finland. The Nordic nation has been extremely vocal in its opposition to the ban, claiming that it still needs to keep cluster munitions in its arsenal to help properly defend its 1,300km border with Russia.
Seven other EU members did not sign the treaty either, including big names like France and the UK. Speaking to Radio Netherlands, Miriam Struyck of the Dutch NGO NKV Pax Christi alluded to Finland’s lingering fears over its more powerful neighbour, Russia, especially after the August conflict with Georgia.
The Finns seem to understand the ineffectiveness of cluster bombs, especially since they can just as easily kill Finnish soldiers on the battlefield. Yet Laura Lodinius of the Finnish Peace Union says that the Finns still feel safer having cluster munitions on hand.
This is not the first time Finland has rejected international disarmament treaties, however. It originally refused to sign the Ottawa ban on landmines over the same fears concerning its long border with Russia. It has since signed off on the landmine ban, but sees cluster munitions as its last defensive resort.
Im Finn lower officer and my opinion is:
– We have big area and long borders
– Only million man army
?????
so what ! If possible enemy try cross our border they know
“there can be land mines” dont cross Finn border without special permit.
The benefits of DU rounds are known; better penetration & lower price. Finland doesn’t want to use DU, because we would be fighting inside our own borders, and therefore contaminating our own soil with depleted uranium.
If you look e.g. at the Georgian war, you’ll see that the abosolute majority of Russian tanks can still be destroyed with ordinary, non-DU rounds. I believe Finland uses the new Rheinmetall DM53-A1 rounds, which can defeat everyhthing Russians would be able to throw at us.
For the U.S., for example, using DU doesn’t matter because they are always fighting abroad. There is no way to clean the soil e.g. after an A-10 has peppered it with 30mm DU rounds.
“Finland is going to sign the Banning Depleted Uranium Treaty which is a good thing.”
That’s terrible.
DU rounds are very effective anti-tank rounds and are perfectly safe as long as you keep people from sniffing around too much in blown out tanks.
Tungsten rounds are a poor substitute and it’s likely whatever replaces DU will involve a significant amount of explosive and have a high a much higher rate of collateral damage.
Perhaps a correction is neededs, but UK and France among many other NATO-members signed the treaty.
Yes, I agree: Finland should pull out of the landmine treaty. The sooner, the better. Joining it was sheer madness, and our current no-good president carries a heavy responsibility of that mistake (and many others).
Such a shame they didn’t sign, Cluster Bombs are horrid things. The US won’t sign either. Of course they refuse to sign a lot of treaties.
Finland is going to sign the Banning Depleted Uranium Treaty which is a good thing.
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Finland should also pull out of the landmine treaty! Anyone who knows even a little bit about Finnish terrain and our national defence strategy would agree that landmines are (were) essential part of our defence in limiting and directing troop movements. Cluster bombs we acquired few years ago are supposed compensate for them but do only part of the job. Are we supposed to give them up too!?! It is easy for the activists in other countries to criticize Finland without knowing anything about the bloody lessons history has taught us and about the attitude of our giant eastern neighbor towards these treaties. Russia hasn’t even signed the landmine treaty!