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That's one way to think about it. However, don't we usually just outright ban weapons with longer term lethality? A bullet is lethal for seconds while mines a
by jayd16 4y ago
That's one way to think about it. However, don't we usually just outright ban weapons with longer term lethality? A bullet is lethal for seconds while mines are lethal for years.
If autonomous drones are lethal for days, weeks or even months, should we consider them a war crime?
- darkerside 4y agoI think it's potentially different in that they can be turned off at any time.
- jameshart 4y agoCan they? A loitering drone that can be switched off at any time by its operator is a loitering drone that contains a vulnerability that enables it to be turned off at any time by an enemy. There is some doomsday logic in deployment of ‘fire and forget’ weapons systems. ‘Once this thing is turned on even I can’t stop it’.
- lazide 4y agoMines are still deployed all the time. Check out YouTube and you’ll see plenty of videos of Russian tanks getting blown up by Ukrainian ones, and civilians navigating Russian ones across highways there. Plenty of people die decades later from chemical and physical effects of various weapons deployed all the time (not even counting the depleted uranium issues in Iraq). White phosphorous is just one such example.
- kragen 4y agoHow is white phosphorus an example? Are you thinking of someone getting liver or kidney damage by absorbing white phosphorus, barely surviving, and lingering for a decade or two in delicate health before succumbing to high blood pressure? That sounds like the same kind of thing as someone getting injured by a bullet, which is a lot more common than WP. Any white phosphorus left in the environment is going to oxidize within a few days into phosphoric acid (the tart flavor of Coca-Cola), and that will get neutralized into phosphate fertilizer pretty quickly, unless it's in some kind of deadly low-pH environment like acid mine drainage.
- lazide 4y agoGood point on WP - I was mixing it in with agent orange, DU projectiles, UXO decades after the fact, etc. but that isn’t really fair. Terrible in the moment, but except for the scars, not likely a problem once someone heals up.
- kragen 4y agoYeah, unless your kidneys or liver are damaged permanently. Less of a long-term problem than unexploded ordnance or sulfur mustard, for sure.
- nradov 4y agoNaval mines are certainly not banned. The US military is back to investing heavily in mine warfare, and plans to use air-delivered mines in any future conflict with China.