WHEN is a landmine not a landmine? When it’s intelligent or remote
controlled, seems to be the answer. Around 135 countries have signed the Ottawa
Convention outlawing antipersonnel mines. But there’s a disturbing trend towards
technologies designed to change the definition of what constitutes a banned
mine.
Japan, a signatory to Ottawa, believes that explosive devices strewn on
beaches are not antipersonnel mines just so long as they are remote controlled.
This seems to imply that a soldier in a watchtower can choose whether or not to
blow off someone’s limbs. Instead of calling it a landmine, it’s dubbed a…
