The Biden administration will for the first time send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to a document seen by Reuters and separately confirmed by two U.S. officials.

The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.

  • kitonthenet@kbin.social
    302·
    1 year ago

    Ok but the alternatives are not environmentally conscious either, finally the people who’s land it is should be the ones making choices about the conditions of that land

    • CookieOfFortune@lemmy.world
      126·
      1 year ago

      The alternative bring tungsten? It’s very stable so anything besides eating a spent rod isn’t going to have effects. If it’s in the air it’ll just be inert. Even if it gets in your lungs it’ll be like any other dust. DU on the other hand would keep emitting radiation internally.

    • Square Singer@feddit.de
      83·
      1 year ago

      But which people? Government or the people who actually own the land?

      And I guess, their favourite choice of “Don’t use any weapons on my land and just clear off voluntairily” is not an option.

      I don’t get why people hate on the Ukraine for using weapons to defend themselves. Not like they chose to be attacked.

      • letsgocrazy
        76·
        1 year ago

        Then why don’t you ask Russia to withdraw, wouldn’t that be easier?

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
          810·
          1 year ago

          Russia is obviously not going to withdraw, and you or me asking Russia to withdraw isn’t going to make it happen. However, people living in western countries do have at least some influence on their own regimes. Of course, the reason western regimes can keep the proxy war going is precisely because a lot of scumbags are cheering it on right now.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.ml
          1310·
          1 year ago

          That’s a really convenient narrative based on the fallacy of homogenizing Ukraine. Let’s take a look at a few slides from this lecture that Mearsheimer gave back in 2015 to get a bit of background on the subject. Mearsheimer is certainly not pro Russian in any sense, and a proponent of US global hegemony. First, here’s the demographic breakdown of Ukraine:

          here’s how the election in 2004 went:

          this is the 2010 election:

          As we can clearly see from the voting patterns in both elections, the country is divided exactly across the current line of conflict. Furthermore, a survey conducted in 2015 further shows that there is a sharp division between people of eastern and western Ukraine on which economic bloc they would rather belong to:

          Maybe learn a bit about the subject first.

      • FireMyth@lemmy.one
        511·
        1 year ago

        Lol the people of ukraine are fighting against a war of aggression from Russia. That’s it.