Sappers risk their lives to win Ukraine back, inch by inch

Cluster munitions are very dangeorous to civilians, because they can lay unexploded in the ground for years, and, well, there are many of them.

The issue is, what is more dangerous to Ukrainian civilians over the next decade or two - unexploded munitions, which can hopefully be mostly recovered after the war, or the Russians, who rape, burn, pillage, kidnap and murder indiscriminately? Certainly they are happy to create ambiguity over whether they would blow up a nuclear plant.

Certainly given Russia is already covering the country with cluster munitions, I don't think it's unreasonable for Ukraine to use them, over their own territory. At the very least it's up to them.

The number of states ratifying these agreements can be misleading, and the simple majority of states agreeing to do something doesn’t always mean the powerful have stepped up, too. States representing nearly half the world (47/48% of global population) have not signed the Ottawa Treaty on anti-personnel landmines. More than half (+55%) of the world’s population lives in a country that is not covered by the cluster munitions convention. One of the keys to making these treaties useful is to have the most powerful states aligned on their aims and objectives - it matters a lot more to have (as you suggest) the US, Russia, China, India, and Pakistan signing on than it does many other smaller states.

The rules don't apply to russia.

The russians rape. The russians torture. The russians mutilate. The russians mass-murder.

The russians shoot small children at close range in the head.

The russians castrate prisoners of war.

The russians execute their own fighters with rifles or by crushing their skull with a sledgehammer.

The russians use chemical weapons.

The russians use cluster bombs.

The russians use white phosphorus.

The russians cause ecological disaster.

The russians threaten nuclear war.

The russians steal children.

The russians blow up schools.

The russians blow up hospitals.

The russians blow up power plants.

And so on, and so on.

And yet so many westerns will clutch their pearls when we give the Ukrainians the means to defend themselves.

It's still odd to read "whataboutism" after all what Russia did in Ukraine, breaking any possible war crime law, mass murdering and torturing civilians, using any weapons anywhere they want (except nuclear, although the nuclear power plant is likely mined), causing scorched earth by blowing the dam, etc etc.

If any other countries start bombing Russian territory then that's a massive escalation that risks triggering their nuclear doctrine and ruining everything. So don't hold your breath for that one.