Reading Joe Shikspak's 'The Evening Blues", something immediately jumped out at me in regard to the first article he reported on, the American claim that cluster munitions are being dropped out of Russian warplanes, and the US claims regarding Russian war crimes. First, I'd like to see the proof that it's Russia dropping the cluster munitions. Considering who is responsible for the sale of the same munitions being sold to the Syrian rebel-supporting Saudi's by none other than Her Heinous and the the fact that the market is still open for business. Cluster bombs manufactured in the United States have already been found in Yemen, used there by the Saudis. So what really is going on here? Are the Saudi's providing the Syrian rebels cluster bombs? Is this just deflection from the ugly reality that the US government allows them to be sold to some of the most restrictive and barbaric governments on the planet? And how about OUR OWN guilt in the spread and useage of cluster muntions? Our own government allows this practice because it's good for the corporations making these killing machines, and good for those that invest in those companies.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cfkvb9al9c6bfvk/AAAvzuW9SHvtKXp08l75te5Ja/Rep...

This goes for the entire Obama administration and for some of the biggest firms on the 'Street'. John Kerry has turned into a real quisling for the War Party. Samantha Powers hasn't met a war yet that she doesn't love. And Obama has his own (REAL) shooting gallery going that he adds targets to on Tuesdays. Doesn't necessarily care whether we actually know who we're killing. He just adds a name to the list and if we get him, we good. If not and we kill some innocent old people and children, well then ------> SQUIRREL!!!!!

Now these are not people whose word I would take about anything. And they are pushing for a continuance of this insane policy by trying to shove another liar and corporate supporting,money-loving warmonger down our throats.

This is from something I posted elsewhere. I started off with Hillary and her stand on cluster munitions:

This woman is so base and corrupt she actually voted against a ban on cluster bombs. Fucking cluster bombs. Maybe if someone sent her kid and the grandkids over to Yemen, the old baggage would wish she wasn't responsible for the carnage and dying under the bombs and from the bullets that she's supplied the Saudis. Bottom line - this creature should be locked away somewhere where she can't take any more money for blood. She's already making noises about starting trouble with Iran. Someone needs to tell that horrible specimen that Iran isn't Iraq and we're sick of her wars. The witch is desperate to start one that she thinks she can win. But with her, everything she touches goes to Hell.

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Why Hillary Clinton’s “Strongest Issue” Is Actually Her Biggest Farce

But Clinton also assisted in selling $151 billion worth of weapons through Pentagon-brokered deals to 16 different countries that had donated to the Clinton Foundation. When this $316 billion total is compared with the Bush Administration’s arms sales approved by George W. Bush’s State Department, that amounts to 143 percent more arms sold over the same length of time.

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When compared with all of the other countries that received weapons, the 2011 arms deal with Saudi Arabia could perhaps be interpreted as an oversight by the most forgiving Clinton supporter. But as the International Business Times reported, Saudi Arabia getting their new weapons was one of Hillary Clinton’s biggest goals:

At press conferences in Washington to announce the department’s approval, an Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew Shapiro, declared that the deal had been “a top priority” for Clinton personally. Shapiro, a longtime aide to Clinton since her Senate days, added that the “U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army have excellent relationships in Saudi Arabia.”

The consequences of the combined $46 billion in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia during the Obama administration can be seen in the Kingdom’s war on Yemen, which has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians and massive political instability. The Center for International Policy reports that Saudi-purchased weapons have also fueled conflicts in neighboring countries:

http://usuncut.com/politics/clinton-arms-deals-gun-control/

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ELECTED OFFICIALS AND ACTIVISTS DEMAND CLINTON RETURN DONATIONS FROM ROGUE MILITARY CONTRACTOR
Textron bribed Saddam Hussein’s regime, and manufactures cluster bombs

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In the fall of 2002, Hillary Clinton voted to authorize military action against Iraq, saying of Hussein, “Saddam Hussein is a tyrant who has tortured and killed his own people, even his own family members, to maintain his iron grip on power.”

In 2005 and 2006 she accepted at least $2,000 dollars from Textron’s PAC, whose bribes would serve to further entrench Hussein’s despotic regime and facilitate its ability to perpetrate atrocities against its own citizens and coalition forces. (The amount received from Textron’s employees, and employees of its many subsidiaries could not be determined.)

Providence City Councilman Miguel Luna (D) said, “I find appalling the double standard that allows her to vote for war with Hussein, and also take money from a corporation that was bribing him." He added, “By taking money from Textron and those who profit from war, she’s committing herself to continuing a foreign policy based on war, and not on dialogue.”

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In September of 2006, as Clinton took money from Textron, she crossed party lines to vote against Senate Amendment 4882, which would have banned the use of cluster bombs by the US armed forces, and whose stated purpose was “To protect civilian lives from unexploded cluster munitions.”

http://providencedailydose.com/2008/02/21/hillary-and-the-arms-industry/

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Cluster Bombs Are Not Good for Children, Hillary
(Ditto for Landmines and Sanctions)

In her autobiography, Living History, Senator Hillary Clinton portrays herself as an advocate for children, a defender of women and human rights. In fact, the Clintons have a long history of sacrificing the rights, even the lives of children, for political expediency. It is time to set the record straight.

On September 6, 2006, a Senate bill--a simple amendment to ban the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas--presented Senator Clinton with a timely opportunity to protect the lives of children throughout the world.

The cluster bomb is one of the most hated and heinous weapons in modern war, and its primary victims are children.

Senator Obama voted for the amendment to ban cluster bombs. Senator Clinton, however, voted with the Republicans to kill the humanitarian bill, an amendment in accord with the Geneva Conventions, which already prohibit the use of indiscriminate weapons in populated areas.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2008/03/13/cluster-bombs-are-not-good-...

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American Cluster Bombs Are Being Used To Kill And Maim Civilians In Yemen

Saudi Arabia is using American made cluster bombs in Yemen, according to reports by Human Rights Watch, in attacks that are indiscriminately killing and maiming civilians.

Cluster munitions emit a large detonation before a number of smaller bombs are distributed over a wider area. While the sale of cluster munitions is not banned internationally, it is widely condemned. “The United States is one of 80 countries, including China, Israel, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia, that have rejected a ban on the sale or use of cluster munitions,” CNN reported Monday.
The use of cluster munitions in places with high-population density, though, is in violation of U.S export laws. It is also a potential war crime, according to the staff at HRW.

https://thinkprogress.org/american-cluster-bombs-are-being-used-to-kill-...

People search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 12,
2015. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/HANI MOHAMMED
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New Report of U.S.-Made Cluster Bomb Use by Saudis in Yemen
By Nick Gladstone [b]Feb. 14, 2016[/b]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/15/world/middleeast/new-report-of-us-made...

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Worried About “Stigmatizing” Cluster Bombs, House Approves More Sales to Saudi Arabia
[b]June 16 2016[/b], 4:20 p.m.

THE HOUSE ON THURSDAY narrowly defeated a measure that would have banned the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, but the closeness of the vote was an indication of growing congressional opposition to the conduct of the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led bombing coalition in Yemen.

The vote was mostly along party lines, with 200 Republicans – and only 16 Democrats – heeding the Obama administration’s urging to vote against the measure. The vote was 204-216.

“The Department of Defense strongly opposes this amendment,” said Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the House Committee on Defense Appropriations, during floor debate. “They advise us that it would stigmatize cluster munitions, which are legitimate weapons with clear military utility.”

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/16/worried-about-stigmatizing-cluster-b...

(THE 16 DEMS THAT VOTED WITH THE REPUBLICANS: Pete Aguilar (CA-13), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Susan Davis (CA-53), John DeLaney (MD-06), Eliot Engel (NY-16), Ruben Gallego (AZ-07), Gene Green (TX-29), Sean Maloney (NY-18), Scott Peter (CA-52), CA “Dutch” Ruppersberger (MD-02), Brad Sherman (CA-30), Albio Sires (NY-08), Adam Smith (WA-09)

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World wide investments in CLUSTER MUNITIONS a shared responsibility

PAX FOR PEACE

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KEY FINDINGS6

Top financiers of cluster munitions producers

When we look at which financial institutions provided the largest amount of money to the seven selected cluster munitions producers, we come to the following top ten of overall investors: Financial Institution

(The first 8 are American investors. Cannot copy and paste. Plus the whole report deserves a good look!)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/cfkvb9al9c6bfvk/AAAvzuW9SHvtKXp08l75te5Ja/Rep...

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More than 150 financial institutions including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America invested $28bn in companies that produce cluster bombs despite an international ban, according to a new report by the Netherlands-based peace organization PAX.

The report includes a “Hall of Shame”, a list of 158 banks, pension funds and other financial institutions that have invested in cluster munitions producers since June 2012, according to the 2016 report, titled Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: A Shared Responsibility. The leading financial investors come from 14 countries including the United States, Canada and the UK, and include the investment firms China Everbright Group and T Rowe Price.

Cluster bombs are banned under international law by the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 Oslo treaty which was signed by more than 100 countries. The convention was the result of a years-long campaign against the weapons, which kill indiscriminately.

A majority of the institutions on the list are from countries that have not signed the convention, including the United States, China and South Korea.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/jp-morgan-bank-of-america-...