A global arms trade treaty could save some of the estimated 200,000 people killed every year as a result of armed conflict – but its success depends on the US President holding his nerve, writes Colm O’Gorman.
If President Obama can hold his nerve.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of drone use, has openly cited a number that exceeds some independent estimates of the total death toll.
This summer, Ireland will join other UN states to discuss how to improve the “poorly regulated” trade of conventional weapons – and ways to stop military equipment falling into the wrong hands.
In the past two years, almost 3,000 weapons have been confiscated from prisoners, including homemade items such as sharpened toothbrushes and pool balls in socks.
Tunisia is said to be sympathetic with the Libyan rebel cause – despite Gaddafi’s definant speech over the weekend – and is helping to covertly pass guns and grenades across the border.
RUSSIAN TANKS REALLY got into the spirit of things at the Russian Arms Expo recently by taking part in a ballet exhibition.
The choreographed display came at the start of the international exhibition to showcase Russian-made arms.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) places Russia behind the US as the world’s second-largest arms exporter.
Russian exported over €4 billion worth of arms in the first six months of the year, and plans to have sold over €7.3 billion by the end of the year. Last year, the country exported around €6.5 billion in weapons and weapons-related products.
It’s not all one-way traffic, though. The country expects to have paid nearly €10 billion on foreign weapons by 2016.
The arms expo these tanks ‘danced’ at is just one of three supported by the Russian government.
IRELAND ISN’T GENERALLY known as a country of protesters but in recent months rallies against abortion legislation and ongoing austerity have become more common.
A new tactic has brought demonstrators to the the homes of politicians, seen most recently outside Enda Kenny’s Castlebar house. The Irish Independent reports that 15 people – some of them clad in white shawls and wearing skeleton masks.
Speaking in Cork at the weekend, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald condemned the practice. According to the Irish Examiner she urged campaigners against household and water charges not to present themselves at the family home of a politician.
But at the same meeting one demonstrator argued, “These people have brought the war to every single home and family in this country. We’re bringing the war right back to them.”
What do you think? Should protesters demonstrate outside politicians’ homes?
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